The Athens Blur Magazine - Issue10

for fans of music &Issue those who make it 10 • FREE • athensblur.com

THESE UNITED STATES • MAD WHISKEY GRIN • BLITZEN TRAPPER • THE DELFIELDS • MEIKO • JANELLE MONAE • TRANCES ARC • DODD FERRELLE • CRACKER & MORE!!!

zero 7

Acclaimed electronic duo gets haunted on album number four

tortoise

Inspiration be damned — Tortoise soldiers on

When You’re Hot

Bradley Cooper’s sizzling Hollywood ride

Life at the speed of tweet

The latest social media outlet is changing the music industry, for better or for worse

HEART in hand After an eight-year absence, an energized Circulatory System returns with a new album

venue ventures

Four clubs lead the way into a changing face of Athens music spots

you wanted columns? you got ‘em>>

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(44) After an eight-year absence, an energized Circulatory System returns with a new album.

Heart IN Hand (48) The latest social media outlet is changing the music industry, for better or for worse. by Natalie B. David

(40) Acclaimed electronic duo Zero 7 gets “haunted” making album number four. by Natalie B. David

life speed of tweet at the

venue ventures

Four clubs lead the way into a changing face of music spots in Athens. by Alec Wooden

(48)

by Ed Morales photos by Jason Thrasher

Seeing Ghosts (42)

Ignoring the Hare

Inspiration be damned — Tortoise soldiers on. by Matt Fink

(73)

Bradley Cooper tries to explain his sizzling ride through Hollywood. by DeMarco Williams

HOT...

When You’re

ATHENS BLUR MAGAZINE

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music 13 COLUMNS

EDITOR’S PLAYLIST: Ten Tunes Worth Noting THE FIRST WORD: A Hard Thing to Know PARTING THOUGHTS: Ten people you meet in Athens,Ga. WORTH A THOUSAND: Who says you need words?

17 spotlights

27

20

9 78 80

These United States Tyrone Jackson Mad Whiskey Grin Blake Shelton Blitzen Trapper Dodd Ferrelle Meiko The Delfields Trances Arc Janelle Monae

11 12 13 14 17 18 20 23 24 27

EAR CANDY: Album Reviews THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY UPCOMING CD RELEASES TOUR DIARY: On the road with Cracker

28

ALSO:

23 63

7

32 35 37

musician’s corner

37

MUSICIAN’S GEAR GUIDE Gear up for fall tours GUEST COLUMN: “Music Means Business” by Bruce Burch Regional Report: Birmingham, Ala.

63

14

18

67

11

28

68

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT MOVIE PREVIEWS: Worth your money? UPCOMING DVD RELEASES

71

76

75

concert shots

71 75

The Month in Photos 76 ATHENS BLUR MAGAZINE 5

I’ve got a new favorite writer these days, and it’s funny — he’s not a feature writer for Spin, an acclaimed critic for The Guardian or a hipster blogging machine at Pitchfork Media. He’s the genius behind nuggets of wisdom like: “I HEARD ROY CLARK SING WHEN I WAS YOUNG IT REMINDED ME THAT I HAD ANY MORE YESTERDAYS THAN TOMORROW’S”

or this:

“EVERY BODY DESERVES A VACATION BUT IT SHOULD FROM SOME THING I HAVE NOTHING TO VACATION FROM BUT I AM TAKING A VACATION ANY HOW.”

or my personal favorite:

“AMERICA WOULD BE BETTER OF TODAY IF THEY HAD RETAINED THE ITALIAN WORK ETHIC GEE I’M PREACHING NOW I BETTER QUIT”

My favorite new writer is my 98-year-old great uncle, Lawrence Marro, writing to an adoring fan base via his favorite new social medium — e-mail (heard of it?). It strikes me how appropriate the timing of these letters, as in this issue we present an in-depth look at Twitter, the latest social networking craze, and its effect on the music industry. Obviously, Uncle Lawrence’s emails aren’t related to Twitter — or music, for that matter — but I’m still in awe of the full circle blanket of the digital age. Here is a man who has lived about 1/6th of his life in the company of the internet, relaying stories (many 80 years old or more) to his kin, many of whom have lived at least half (and in most cases, more) of their lives in the splendid company of instant communication. I may never have heard these stories without this phenomenon of which Twitter is now the major player. Technological advancements that once seemed so far out of reach — so futuristic — are now commonplace and, in the coolest twist of all, can actually be a link to our past when used properly. But gee...I’m preaching now. I better quit. Enjoy,

,

The Athens Blur Magazine P.O. Box 7117 Athens, Ga 30604 Main Office(706) 353-7799 Sales(706) 207-9091 Executive Editor Alec Wooden [email protected]

BLUR FROM THE EDITOR

DEAR READERS

Director of Sales Stephen Simmons [email protected] Account Executives Jen Allen [email protected] Zach Greco [email protected] Adrienne Klein [email protected] Cole Taylor [email protected] Advertising Interns Elaine Emma Kelch Design Colin Dunlop, Lauren Mullins, Carlye Norton, Alec Wooden Editorial Interns Marie Baginski, Kristen Callihan, Jessica Cole, Lauren Moot, Sarah Saltzman Contributing Editors Matt Conner, Jon Ross

Alec Wooden Executive Editor

editor’s playlist

old or new, the songs I can’t get enough of this month “Awake” The Color Turning

“These Are My Twisted Words” Radiohead

“I and Love and You” The Avett Brothers

“Getting By” Tim Fite

“Pyramids” The Inner Banks

“Even The Good Wood Gone” Why?

“Mirrors Don’t Lie But People Do” The Goodfight

“Yer So Bad” The Flying Change

ON THE COVER:

Circulatory System, photo by Jason Thrasher of Thrasher Photography.

Contributing Writers Nicole Black, Melissa Coker, Matt Conner, Amanda Cuda, Natalie David, Matt Fink, Ed Morales, Phil Pyle, Jon Ross, Ingrid Sibley, DeMarco Williams Contributing Photographers Alyssa De Hayes, Stefen Eberhard, Wes Elkin, Justin Evans, Sandra Gallardo, Alex Gibbs, Will Gravlee, Daniel Peiken, Jason Thrasher

For general comments and inquiries: [email protected] For advertising opportunities: [email protected] The Athens Blur Magazine issue 10, copyright©2009 By The Athens Blur Magazine, INC. The Athens Blur Magazine is an eight issue/year music and variety publication, proud to be based in the “Classic City” of Athens, Ga. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or part in any way by any means unless written permission is received from the publisher. Published monthly except for each summer issue in the United States of America and distributed free of charge (limit one copy per reader, each subsequent copy is distributed at a charge of $4.95). Postmaster send address changes to The Athens Blur Magazine, P.O. Box 7117 Athens, Ga. 30604

ATHENS BLUR MAGAZINE

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a hard thing to know

how much technology should we take with our music?

At a certain point, maybe it was just after the first of our knuckle-dragging ancestors began tagging the inside of the family cave, humans started using objects to make music. You figure we’d been singing and clapping since the start of it all. Eventually, though, some hairy brute wanted to clap louder than the brute next to him, so he started banging a pair of sticks together. Voila—instruments and the introduction of technology into music. And then came Les Paul. Before he died on August 13 at the age of 94, his sonic and electronic curiosities brought us multi-track recording, all sorts of effects like delay and echo, and, of course, the solid-body electric guitar. He played like a hummingbird — quick, light, softly aggressive, beautiful. But it was his behind-the-scenes tinkering for which he’ll be best remembered. In no one else were technology and music so thoroughly — and productively — entwined. It’s a hard thing to know, how much technology to take with your music. I know I think it’s weird to see a guy with a laptop on stage. I remember well the first time I saw a CD. I was in fourth or fifth grade when my dad came home from work with what I thought was physical evidence of magic. The way the disc caught the light and spun it into all those colors; the fact that it had words on it, music in it (opera, in this case) and still worked as a mirror amazed me. That there were lasers involved floored me. Dad wasn’t as impressed. He had an enduring affection for reel-to-reel recordings. Now, of course, CDs are an inch away from passé. Records are cool, tapes are funny, eight tracks are weird and CDs, having spent the last 20 years as the life of the party, are standing around with a lukewarm drink and no one to talk to. The Beatles, or what’s left of them, are re-packaging their music for Rock Band, the video game. In a recent article in the New York Times, Olivia Harrison, George’s wife, said in playing the game, “You feel like you’re creating music.” But you’re not, really, are you? You’re pushing buttons when you’re told, causing the game to play music that’s already been created. Close, I guess. The funny thing about Rock Band, which is a hoot to play, is that it seems to

Ned Rauch “Records are cool, tapes are funny, eight tracks are weird and CDs, having spent the last 20 years as the life of the party, are standing around with a lukewarm drink and no one to talk to.” get in the way of what playing music, at its core, is: a chance to do something new. Something that no one’s ever heard before. Even performances by the world’s best symphonies with note-for-note loyalty to the score are full of unique nuances. That’s why people still go to the symphony, right? For the chance to hear something new, however subtle. Rock Band and Guitar Hero don’t allow new. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that per se. They’re just games, after all. But with more and more people playing them, one wonders what the effect will be on the number of people making their own music. Will learning songs by playing them part-by-part in a game lead people to pick up real guitars? Who knows? They say the games, by requiring players to interact with music, give people a deeper, more thorough understanding of the songs, and that ain’t a bad use of technology.

Here’s what is bad: in the new box set of performances from Woodstock, several of the cuts have been re-recorded and spruced up. In 1969, with all the rain and drugs, Carlos Santana’s guitar was out of tune. So the producers of the anniversary package had him re-record some of his parts. Give me a break. The whole Woodstock deal, what keeps people churning out books, movies and articles about it, is the innocence of it all. It may have been a mess, but it was an honest mess. Would Carlos of 1969 approve of Carlos of 2009 fudging the record? Not likely. But people change. And technology allows them to change what they did. Two sides to that coin: one of the things that makes music so poignant an art form is how malleable, how whimsical and how fleeting it is. “Our love is like our music,” Mick Jagger sang. “It’s here and then it’s gone.” Why not monkey with recordings of the past? At the same time, performing music with instruments and voices requires a level of candor that other forms of art don’t demand. A painter can work on a piece for years before unveiling it. Musicians in front of an audience have one chance to pull off a tune. After-the-fact doctoring of the recording undermines that inherent sense of boldness, of risk. There are those who say “trick photography” is redundant. Maybe we should look at, or listen to, recordings similarly, knowing that even the purest field recordings are technological distortions of what was sung, what was played. And then you look at Les Paul’s life and see a guy who found his voice as much in circuitry as he did in scales and chords. Until this August, he was living proof that maybe the technical side of making music is as much an art form as strumming a guitar.

BLUR THE FIRST WORD

MUSIC

Ned P. Rauch lives in New York City and writes for www.tendollarradioshow.com and plays guitar in the band Frankenpine.

Got something to say about this column? We’re all ears at [email protected]. Send your thoughts, along with your name and hometown! ATHENS BLUR MAGAZINE

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don’t look now, but jesse elliott’s got a steady band   For a long time, Washington, D.C.-based outfit These United States couldn’t really be described as a band. Well, at least not a proper, organized band — not according to singer/guitarist Jesse Elliott. For a while, he said, he saw the group more as a “musical project,” a sort of informal experiment that he was at the center of, with “members” rotating in and out. But that changed as Elliott began teaming with fellow musicians Robby Cosenza, J. Tom Hnatow, Justin Craig and Colin Kellogg on a fairly regular basis. Eventually, their collaboration went from “project” to something a bit more formal, and Elliott could no longer escape using the “B” word to describe it. “As other people have begun to have a more constant impact on both what I write and what the people we’re playing for hear, it’s become more of a proper band,” Elliott says of These United States’ evolution.  “A band is a very specific thing.  It’s a very strange beast. It’s five headed in our case, or however-manyheaded in other cases.  A band is a hard thing to describe.  It’s four fingers and a thumb, opposed, which doesn’t make any sense, but has got us this far through history against adversity, hasn’t it?” That somewhat labyrinthine description aside, Elliott’s project is quickly making itself known as a musical force to be reckoned with. This month, These United States will release Everything Touches Everything, its third album in only 18 months. The group’s previous two albums, A Picture of the Three of Us at the Gate to the Garden of Eden and Crimes, were critically well-received, and Everything has already garnered a positive buzz in the months before its release. The band’s musical style is hard to define, and has been described as psych-folk, rock, punk and (on the band’s own

MUSIC ALTERNATIVE

these states band together

THESE UNITED STATES WHO’S WHO Jesse Elliott (vocals, acoustic guitar, songs), Robby Cosenza (drums, harmonica, vocals), J. Tom Hnatow (pedal steel, electric guitars), Justin Craig (electric guitars, vocals) Colin Kellogg (bass, vocals) FORMED Washington D.C. LABEL United Interests LATEST RELEASE Everything Touches Everything (2009) ON THE WEB www.unitedinterests.com Facebook page) “Really Really Beautiful Inspirational Music That Is Awesome to You.” Indeed, Elliott himself seems hard-pressed to pin down the band’s sound. When asked if the music fits into a particular genre, he replies, “yes: songs.” Whatever name you apply to the music, his work with These United States is something

COURTESY force field PR

“A band is a hard thing to describe. It’s four fingers and a thumb, opposed, which doesn’t make any sense, but has got us this far through history against adversity.” — Jesse Elliott, These United States — Elliott is passionate about — though, early in his career, Elliott hated performing. Eventually, he overcame that displeasure because of his intense love for creating music, pointing out “there’s not a lot of ways to make a living making music without performing.  Well, there probably are, but I’m not smart enough with music to know what they are.” Elliott calls the drive to create music “a bug that bites you at some point. It’s something that you can’t ignore. It’s something inside all of us — you know, humming in the shower.  I don’t know what makes it latch on to some people’s brains just a little bit harder than others.” Though giving into the bug “isn’t always pleasant,” Elliott

explains it’s worthwhile. “I just let it latch on, take over, head along for the ride, hope I don’t lose my breath often enough that anyone notices,” he says. Letting his love for music latch onto him has worked out for Elliott, as has adopting a more conventional band format. He says that, though he and his band mates have artists they admire, their biggest inspiration comes from each other, and from their mutual love of their art. “We talk about other musical acts, all of us, just because that’s the language we have in common, that translates across place and time,” Elliott says. “But it’s the people we’re with every day who bend our brains the furthest.” — Amanda Cuda

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MUSIC BLUES & JAZZ

Grinning through madness

Pianist assembles local cast of musicians for sophomore effort

An Unlikely Pair proves they’re anything but one dimensional

For amateur musicians, jazz jam sessions give the best chance to perform standards alongside seasoned players. Pianist Tyrone Jackson, a New Orleans native who has lived and gigged professionally in Atlanta since 1997, sees these weekly gatherings as networking parties. Alongside the members of the Joe Gransden Quartet, he performs in the jam session house band at Twain’s Billiards & Tap in Decatur every Tuesday. Through this event, the pianist routinely mixes with a few new people and sees a lot of old friends. The artists on Jackson’s sophomore album, Another Voyage, were culled from these relationships. Gransden was already on hand to play trumpet, and Kennesaw State University music professor Sam Skelton had previously performed with Jackson. In total, six of the seven musicians on Another Voyage call Atlanta their home. “To have those kind of guys on a project was really important,” Jackson says adding that recording with artists he has known for years means he can arrange tunes with specific players in mind. Jackson illustrates his versatility on the album by configuring the local musicians into three distinct ensembles. Sensitive ballads are presented in an intimate trio format, while trumpet and saxophone are added for more lively arrangements. Jackson’s accompaniment of singers Laura Coyle and Kemba Cofield is soft but forceful in its support. “Being a piano player, you find yourself in a lot of different scenarios,” Jackson says. “I could have done just a trio CD, but I love playing with a quintet; I love playing with horn players and writing for them.” Another Voyage captures Jackson at a specific point in his career, playing a specific style of music. Like his first release, Dedicated, the new CD is simply part of a progression. Jackson

Frank Williams and Nancy Byron are a series of anomalies. The duo’s dark and tormented songs, which are filled with nearly every tortured emotion possible, are the brainchildren of two perfectly cheery and friendly people. Williams and Byron have been playing together for less than a year, but they finish each other’s sentences and tease each other like they are brother and sister. When one writes a song, the other often looks at the lyrics and decides to make something completely different out of it. “I would hear her sing [a song], and it would come across as very jazzy and soulful,” Williams says. “But when I hit it, it would become something else entirely, which is kind of how that works.” Williams has been playing guitar for nearly 25 years; Byron has barely been singing in public for one. On stage, Williams often forgets there is anyone out in front of him, while Byron couldn’t love interacting with the audience more. Just when you think you know something about one of them, the other one proves you wrong, and perhaps it’s because of this dynamic that Mad Whiskey Grin is what it is today. A combination of Williams’ sarcasm and Byron’s bluntness brought the two together. Williams was looking for a vocalist to team up with and Byron had just started singing in public. The two met through mutual friends, and when they were first introduced, Williams wasted no time with pleasantries. “Part of my idiom is interrupting the patterns of people’s lives,” says Williams. “So when Nancy was introduced to me as a singer I was like, ‘Yeah, well, can you sing the blues while looking good in a red dress?’ And she put her hand on her hip, cocked that hip in a way I’ve never seen before, managed to look up at me and down at me at

ATHENS BLUR MAGAZINE

COURTESY tyrone jackson

TYRONE JACKSON WHO’S WHO Tyrone Jackson (piano) FORMED 1989 in New Orleans, La. LABEL HotShoe Records LATEST RELEASE Another Voyage (2009) ON THE WEB www.tyronejackson.com is growing as a musician on his records, which, he says, is not necessarily a bad thing. “We’re supposed to get better anyway, so why not document that with a CD?” he says. “There’s definitely evolution in my playing. My playing on Dedicated is good, but in the four years it took me to do this one, my playing has definitely gotten a lot better.”   Jackson came to jazz piano in college. He had been

“When I lived in New Orleans, the attraction was that you could find great music there. I don’t know if people really think they can hear great jazz in Atlanta.”

— Tyrone Jackson — surrounded by a rich mixture of jazz and soul food from birth, but only started studying the music seriously when he met the pianist Ellis Marsalis, a professor at the University of New Orleans. After he enrolled as a student and started private lessons, Jackson found playing opportunities around town and began branching out musically. “There are a lot of musicians who are specialists in Atlanta, where they only play jazz. Within that framework, they only play a specific type of jazz,” Jackson says. “There’s some people in New Orleans that if they tried to be a specialist, they wouldn’t survive.” This on-the-job experience proved invaluable for Jackson, who now makes his living

performing at clubs and restaurants throughout Atlanta and as a church pianist. Of course, the ever-shrinking club scene means that jazz isn’t as present as it was when he moved here a decade ago. But the pianist is convinced that, with a little help, Atlanta can be known as a jazz town.  “When I lived in New Orleans, the attraction was that you could find great music there. I don’t know if people really think they can hear great jazz in Atlanta,” he says. “The rap scene and the hip-hop scene is thriving here. If people knew we had a thriving jazz community of musicians, I think they would come check it out.”   — Jon Ross

MUSIC BLUES & JAZZ

12

Fostering a jazz community

PHoto:laurie moot

“I would often have trouble singing a song about a situation when my answer would be to pick up something heavy and hit the guy with it until he stops twitching.” — Frank Williams, Mad Whiskey Grin— the same time, and said, ‘What do you think?’” “It sounded like a rude question to me,” Byron says, laughing.   After their initial meeting, the two kept running into each other. One night, Byron decided to invite Williams to one of her upcoming shows. “I was like, ‘Are you coming to my show?’” Byron says. “And Frank said, ‘Well, are you coming to mine at The Melting Point?’ and I was like, ‘Sure, what do you want me to sing?’” The two ened up on stage together, and, to their surprise, it worked. In fact, it worked so well that Williams says he now has a hard time playing some of his songs without Byron singing next to him. The duo’s sound is a result of

Williams’ endless curiosity of everything the guitar is capable of (he often uses an old slide cut from the barrel of a shotgun that belonged to a prison guard in south Georgia), combined with Byron’s dark, soulful vocals, which manage to linger long after the song is over. In the same fashion with which they finish each other’s sentences, they complete what the other one is trying to accomplish on stage. “When we were partnered, it just floored me how quickly she caught on to the nuances of what I was trying to say,” Williams says. “I’ve got a certain way of approaching the world, and it doesn’t always make for good story telling, so I would often have trouble singing a song about a situation when my answer

MAD WHISKEY GRIN WHO’S WHO Frank Williams (guitar) Nancy Byron (vocals) FORMED 2008 in Athens, Ga. LABEL Unsigned LATEST RELEASE Oiled Smoke Sessions (2009) ON THE WEB www.madwhiskeygrin.com

would be to pick up something heavy and hit the guy with it until he stops twitching. But I’m a good writer of prose and I can create characters well, so Nancy let me say things that I could not say for myself that I could let her say, and in fact she’s got stories of her own to tell.” —Laurie Moot

ATHENS BLUR MAGAZINE

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MUSIC COUNTRY 14

red hot bs

a fire that can’t be stomped out Any man who affectionately refers to himself as “BS” should be required to be full of it. And Blake Shelton definitely is – full of what, no one’s sure. But he does have plenty of good (not always nice) humor, powerful vocal delivery, sometimes sporadic TV spots, an insanely updated Twitter account, questionably doubleentendred meat marinating advice and even more suspect party tips. “If you’re ugly, buy everybody a drink. If you’re good lookin’… take your clothes off,” he kindly suggests. That naked truth comes from one of many videos done for Great American Country at GACTV.com. He’s blazing different territory with the most recent video foray — to get into the grills of contest-entrants everywhere. July/August’s “Summer BBQ Sweepstakes with Blake Shelton” flamed up no doubt thanks to the meaty music on his current CD, Startin’ Fires. It also helped him get in the hot seat as their “Artist of the Month” for July. He found himself in a hotter seat with the George Strait ACM All Star Concert, a CBS special featuring select artists covering George Strait classics. Shelton, along with Miranda Lambert, sang the sweet “It Ain’t Cool.” Funny, given Shelton’s current album title — plus, both were probably sweating buckets (figuratively speaking). He also told of the first time he met Strait, complete with voice inflections; “Damn,” he [Strait] said of the 6’5” Shelton. “I thought you were standing on a step.” Even more impressive, Shelton successfully opened several shows for Strait over the summer. “One of the good things that goes along with this type of momentum is things like offers to go out with George Strait,” he told the crowd at his #1 party

ATHENS BLUR MAGAZINE

BLAKE SHELTON WHO’S WHO Blake Shelton (guitar, vocals) FORMED 2001 in Nashville, Tenn. LABEL Warner Brothers Nashville LATEST RELEASE Startin’ Fires (2008) ON THE WEB www.blakeshelton.com

courtesy blake shelton

for the Cory Batten co-written “She Wouldn’t Be Gone.” “Gone” is also the song he got to perform on this year’s ACM awards show. Shelton says: “Man, I was a nervous wreck performing on that thing…I had my fingers crossed we would get to do it. My favorite part of being an artist is being on stage. And I’m glad I got to do the ACM’s that way. One of my favorite ways to perform is acoustically.” But hold the phone! Despite what acoustic, or his second single “I’ll Just Hold On,” might lead some to believe, this smooth operator shows no sign of slowing down. In fact, Shelton has a need to Tweet something fierce. Showing he’s too much twit to quit, he uses his 140 characters to display such wit as the following to his “followers:” blakeshelton “Ok, I’m off to apply for a loan so I can fill this MF’n bus with feul!!!!!” blakeshelton “Then I’m going to swing by the third grade and learn how to spell “fuel”...... SON OF A BITCH!!!!!!! Then there’s this off-color

comment (fan’s comment first/ Blake’s response): “If the yellow turtle grabs the blue baloon will the sun turn green at midnight? (via @ReverendMichael) And will you smoke some more crack?” Now how’s about that for sexy talk? Some “People” must enjoy it. Shelton made the magazine’s “Sexiest…” list in 2008, clawed down from the top by Hugh Jackman. “I mean, can you believe that? What a rip-off,” he laments.” Who is that guy?” “No, really — that whole thing is pretty funny to me. When I look at myself in the mirror, the last thing I think of is sexy guy — somewhere along the way someone must have taken a really, really, really good picture of me.” Speaking of good sides, another video features Shelton and GAC host Nan Kelley singing “Islands in the Stream” at his 2009 Fan Club party — his fans surprised her to the point of tears with their birthday gift to Blake — an $11,400 donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Something

near to Kelley’s heart, he said to her “you’re my cause.” There. Shelton’s “fire” side manner can melt hearts, too. “Almost every night someone will come to me and say ‘Man — that actually happened to me [the story of song ‘The Baby’]. It’s shocked me…to know how much that song means to people is pretty amazing. I by far get more sentimental stories. ‘Cause there’s not a lot of people who can actually relate to ‘Ol Red.’ It’s always relationship stories, etc., I hear out there.” Continuing, he clarifies that he’s referring to those with a significant non-canine other, not the “damndest dog” one’s ever seen. “I was shocked to have the #1 Love Song,” the self-professed “Lord of Love” says of the GAC Love Songs special he hosted. “That came out of nowhere! But my fan base is really active; they make a war out of voting.” With all this plus more going for him and armed with insults via Tweets that are so low you could sit on a matchstick and swing your lovely feet, who knows what territory Shelton will set ablaze next. Fire-starter or not, that’s nothing to shake a stick at.   — Melissa Coker

behind blitzen trapper’s front man’s relentless writing

BLITZEN TRAPPER

MUSIC FOLK

the earley signs are good WHO’S WHO Eric Earley (vocals, guitar) Eric Menteer (guitar, keyboard) Marty Marquis (vocals, guitar, keyboard) Drew Laughery (keyboard) Michael Van Pelt (bass) Brian Adrian Koch (drums) FORMED 2003 in Portland, Ore. LABEL Sub Pop LATEST RELEASE Black River Killer EP (2009) ON THE WEB www.blitzentrapper.net photo: jade harris

Here’s the romantic version —  the romanticized version, maybe —  of the American songwriter: a scraggly, bearded dude sitting under a 60-watt light bulb at 3 a.m., ankle deep in crumpled lyric sheets, chain smoking Camel Lights and taking pulls off a lukewarm gin and tonic while penning the next big thing. It’s perfect, poetic, striking ... but it’s not Eric Earley. “No,” laughs the songwriting brains of Portland, Ore.’s sextet sensation, Blitzen Trapper. “That’s not me.” Make no mistake about it, though, romanticized or not, Earley is not only an American songwriter, but he’s quickly become one of the most acclaimed of his generation. Blitzen Trapper’s 2007 effort,  Wild Mountain Nation, became that year’s critical darling, and the follow-up, Furr, was named Rolling Stone’s #13 album of 2008. These  two records define a sound Earley simply labels “American music.” “I just said [American music]

to deflect the question,” he says, laughing. “It’s like anything American. It’s completely enigmatic and confusing, and there’s something to it that’s just uniquely this continent. The country is so big and there’s so many people and so much culture — it’s very vast like that. But you can draw from all kinds of areas and have it be American music.” The specific culture in which Blitzen Trapper is immersed is the proven breeding ground of the Northwestern United States, a place rife with legends, labels and underground talent that have commanded the spotlight for the better part of the last few decades. “I do hear people talk about the Northwest a lot,”  Earley says. “I think that’s just because of the amount of bands that live there and the amount of successful bands that are from the area,  and yeah, there are certain sounds that go with certain environments.” Is the Pacific Northwest where bits of Led Zeppelin,

bits of Neil Young (“Neil Young — that’s kind of the ultimate. … People have said we sound like Neil Young,”  Earley says), bits of Pavement and a touch of Elliot Smith collide? If Blitzen Trapper’s sound is any clue, the answer is apparently yes. “I don’t know.  I just write songs that end up on records,” he says. “I just keep writing and sort of figure out what makes sense together.” The above statement is somewhat of a contradiction;  Blitzen’s newest effort, Black River Killer EP, is actually a collection of songs that didn’t end up on a record. “It’s a lot of songs that were recorded between Wild Mountain Nation and Furr, and they were just songs that didn’t go onto Furr for whatever reason. We’ve played them all live, but [they] were never released,” Earley says, though he doesn’t cast the EP’s tracks as unworthy of inclusion on Furr. “The EP is very closely connected to Furr, and I think the songs are good — as good as any of the songs on Furr.”

The release of the B-Side  collection is meant to feed the public’s apparent addiction to Blitzen Trapper tunes while awaiting the arrival of the band’s next full length,  something that’s much closer to a reality than most may think. “It’s pretty close to done,” Earley says. “We’ve got a couple more to add that should be done before too long.” In the wake of critical success, it’s not hard (or uncommon) for pressure and expectations to spike to creative-juice-crushing levels. But if that’s the case with Earley and his band, it’s not easy to tell. “I think our success has been so gradual that I don’t feel like we have anything to prove,”  he says. “Success for me is just the slow progression of playing bigger shows for people and having people buy the record. That’s pretty simplistic, I guess. That’s everyone’s goal, isn’t it?” Everyone’s goal, yes, but it’s becoming Blitzen Trapper’s reality. 
 —Alec Wooden

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MUSIC FOLK 18

mayberry 2.0

The Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art Present

T HE

From Winterville to the Paradox of a Lonely Parade Welcome to Winterville, Ga. Population: 1,100. This leafy little hamlet is nestled about six miles from Athens in what could be labeled as Georgia’s answer to Mayberry — one main road, one library, one police station and one Americana rock star?  Okay, so maybe this isn’t your typical Andy Griffith town, but that same sense of southern hospitality rings true for Dodd Ferrelle and his family of artists.  The Savannah-born musician has two children — a violin-playing 3-year-old boy and a 2-year-old drummer chick — and a wife with a knack for painting and the arts. That leaves us with the man of the house, Dodd Ferrelle, who just released his seventh studio album, paradoxically titled Lonely Parades. “I just felt like they [the words ‘Lonely’ and ‘Parades’] were pretty neat because even though you can be in this crowd of five or 10 thousand people on any given day, or in a parade, or any march to work, I still thought that there was a little sense of loneliness.” This theme of loneliness that resonates throughout the album doesn’t seem like something Ferrelle really has to worry about — Winterville just radiates with safety and love.  But Ferrelle did find inspiration for his songs from personal experience and through the experiences of others. “Personally, from seeing someone else go through it and then once I grab onto that emotion and start to let it out it kind of transforms and goes through this catharsis in terms of just bigger character and I don’t know if that makes any sense, but I guess there is a darkness to a lot of the songs I write,” he explains.  “There are a lot of up beat songs with a lot of dark content, but there was probably a sense of loneliness and a sense of some of the people around me feeling the same way.” On the record, Ferrelle reunites with his old Me’an

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photo: alyssa de hayes

Mills bandmate Jon Mills, who plays bass on Lonely Parades. The last time the two collaborated on an album was back in 2003 on Sweet Lowland (songs inspired by Tybee Island and Savannah). “When this opportunity came along to make a solo record he was the first person I called,”  Ferrelle says of Mills.  The two parted ways shortly after they moved to Athens.  Jon went to play with several different bands, while Ferrelle started work with his band, The Tinfoil Stars.  He also explains how working with Mills is, in a way, like coming back home.  “People that play with you long enough, especially when you’re first starting and you’re learning your way of songwriting and what kind of songwriter you’re gonna be, they can kind of guess your next move. So when you’re on stage or in the studio it’s just really easy.  It’s just great.” Ferrelle’s songwriting process is not something that could be classified as “easy.”  A better word would be sporadic — ideas for songs aren’t necessarily mapped out, but they come to him in either the form of lyrics, a melody or just in single instrument

DODD FERRELLE WHO’S WHO Dodd Ferrelle (vocals/ acoustic/electric guitar/ glockenspiel) FORMED 2001 in Athens, Ga. LABEL Two Sheds Music LATEST RELEASE LonelyCOURTESY Paradesvanguard (2009) records ON THE WEB www.doddferrelle.com sections.  For example, take the steps it took to incorporate different instruments into the walking-drum ballad, “What’s Another Broken Heart?”  “We were on the way to Jacksonville and I had the rough mixes in the car when the band was sleeping and I just had that in my head [hums melody] and knew it was a trumpet,” he explains.  “We got back and we put the trumpet on there. And with the glockenspiel it was the same way, I heard the bells and we doubled it with guitars and

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put some neat studio stuff on it and it sounded huge and really pretty to me and I just loved it.” Ferrelle’s experimentation with new instruments and his ability to constantly evolve his sound is what makes his musical career so successful.  This type of commitment to his career carries over into his commitment to his family.  In the backyard of Ferrelle’s quaint Winterville home, construction is underway on a brand new recording space that will also provide an art studio for his wife.  “It’s hard to get away to paint.  I think she’s about to get to a point where she can.  That’s the reason we did this now. And all of this natural light, we left me in my cave over here so that she can paint in the light out there.”  So, in a way, Dodd Ferrelle is a lot like Mayberry’s Andy Griffith — loyal, caring and just an altogether family man. Except this Winterville resident has something Griffith never had: a hauntingly beautiful Robert Plant-esque wail and a soothing country rock sound.  It seems this long running parade is far from being lonely.   — Jessica Cole

art F: music Tuesday, October 20, 2009 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. At Stan Mullins Studio, 650 Pulaski Street, Athens, GA 30601 Grammy Award-winning musician and artist Art Rosenbaum will perform selections of traditional American music with a few of his friends. Refreshments will be served.

$15 Friends of the Museum, $20 non-members For reservations, please call 706.542.0830 by October 15, 2009

This event is generously sponsored by Stan Mullins and THE ATHENS BLUR MAGAZINE.

For more information on GMOA on the Move and “The Art of” series, visit: www.uga.edu/gamuseum

Since making the big move to the West Coast, she may have lost her accent — but 27-yearold singer/songwriter Meiko from Macon, Ga., hasn’t lost her love for the South.  Nicole Black: Why did you decide to move to California? Meiko: Well, I have an older sister and she was living in Miami at the time I graduated high school.  I went through one semester of college and I didn’t really want to be there (Georgia) so I went to Miami to be with her.  Then I kind of moved to L.A. to kind of take a break and figure out what I really wanted to do in life.  I thought I was going to go back to college but that never really quite worked out.   NB: A lot of people move to LA to get noticed. M:  No, that wasn’t it at all.  It was super random.  My sister’s boyfriend wanted to go there for a bartending job, and she was following him, and I was like, ‘You can’t leave me, I just moved to Miami with you.’   NB:  What was your first job there? M: I started working at Gold’s Gym, making protein shakes at a juice bar, which was the suckiest job I’ve ever had.  I did that for a couple years. Then I started waiting tables at a few random places.  But the coolest place I worked at was a music venue called The Hotel Café. That’s when things started to click. That’s when I really started to focus on playing out more and performing and making a record.   NB:  Is the staff at The Hotel Café all musicians who get to play there? M:  I played there once before I ever got a job there. I got friendly with the owners and started hanging out there a lot.  I actually got fired from this Indian restaurant I was waiting tables at so when I got fired I called up the guy at The Hotel Café and said, ‘You have to hire me,’ and he said, ‘Well, it just so happens we’re starting to hire waitresses for the first time.’  They didn’t have cocktail waitresses before me, I was the first one.  I was the only singer/songwriter that worked there. It was a matter of if someone didn’t show up for a gig or someone cancelled or someone really big was playing, they would always think of me, like, ‘Oh, do you want to play in this slot?’  I got to open up for Patti Griffin one time, which was probably the coolest person I opened up for there.   NB: Why did you get fired from the Indian restaurant?

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COURTESY meiko

MUSIC POP

always a georgia girl

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M: I got fired from there because I asked for a month off because I wanted to go to Spain.  And I had saved up my money for a like a year to go to Spain and I asked for the time off and they said no. It was a combination of quitting and getting fired.    NB: What made you decide to visit Spain? M: Well, I guess growing up in a small town in Georgia; I really never got out of town.  I never travelled a lot as a kid.  I had all these dreams of traveling and going to all these different exotic places.  When I became an adult and once that was possible, I took advantage of it.  And I went to Spain because I was in love with a boy that was from there so I went to see him.  It was the greatest thing ever.  I was there for a month and travelled around and

MEIKO WHO’S WHO Meiko (vocals, guitar) FORMED 2007 in Los Angeles, Calif. LABEL Lucky Ear/MySpace/DCG LATEST RELEASE Meiko (2008) ON THE WEB www.meikomusic.com

ate all kinds of crazy food.  It was more than one blessing because I got to see Spain for the first time, and then, you know, I got fired from that Indian restaurant and ended up getting the cool job at The Hotel Café and my life kind of changed drastically after that.   NB:  What happened to the guy in Spain? M:  We dated for four years and we actually just broke up not too long ago.  But it was a good four years (laughs).  It was a nice run.   NB:  So was the breakup a lot of the inspiration for the album? M:  Yeah, breakups are inspirational.  I write a lot about feelings that come from stuff like that.  But the record is also about kind of missing somebody.   

“I’m from Georgia, I’m used to like hanging out with the boys, drinking beers and talking shit.  I took that to L.A.  And I love that I’m like that and I do have a lot of guy friends.  Sometimes you get a cool guy friend with a stupid girlfriend and you just have to deal with it, I guess.” —Meiko—

MUSIC POP

once a georgia girl

NB:  Speaking of songs, what’s the story behind the ‘Boys With Girlfriends’ song? M:  I was really good friends with this guy and he was like my best friend.  He had this girlfriend that really didn’t like me and got jealous about how close we were and really got in the way.  I guess she gave him the ultimatum of staying friends with me or staying with her.  He ended up just not returning my phone calls or not being my friend anymore.  I felt pretty crossed by that situation.    NB:  Have you heard from him today? M:  I think they’re married and have a baby now.  I’m from Georgia; I’m used to like hanging out with the boys, drinking beers and talking shit.  I took that to L.A.  And I love that I’m like that and I do have a lot of guy friends.  Sometimes you get a cool guy friend with a stupid girlfriend and you just have to deal with it, I guess.   NB:  What is the concept behind the video, “Under My Bed”? M:  The whole point of the song “Under My Bed” is the fact that I would be in these relationships, we would break up and I would be done with it, and I would have all these souvenirs and things that reminded me of them and I would put them literally in a box under my bed.  And that’s how I wrote the song.  I realized that I had all these boxes under my bed, different people I had been with.  I actually wanted to call up some ex-boyfriends and ask them to be in the video but I didn’t have the balls to do that (laughs).   NB:  Do you notice any guy groupies, yet? M:  (laughs) I do, it’s really cute.  I think it’s adorable that I have guy fans that come to a bunch of shows.  I usually just have a bunch of chicks in the front row but it’s cute for me to see boys there, too.  Some of my fans are really cool.  Like, I have this older motorcycle guy in L.A. that always comes to my shows, with a leather jacket with patches on it and I’m like, ‘You’re so cool.’   NB:  Would you ever go on a date with any of them? M:  No, I try to keep that separate. That’s scary to me.  I try not to get personal.  The last thing I want is to be cut up in someone’s freezer (laughs).   NB:  Would you still consider yourself a down-home country girl? M:  I do.  I appreciate fried chicken, and cornbread, and collard greens more than anyone else I know.  And I will always have a love for Bud Light.  I’ve been to a few mud bogs in my life.   NB:  What do you miss most about Georgia? M:  I miss the comfort of knowing that everyone around you actually cares about you.  That’s probably the coolest thing about going home; hanging out with all my friends and family and just knowing that they knew you when you were little and they genuinely love you and care about you and what’s going on with your life.  They’re so sincere there.  In the city, and definitely the music industry, you don’t get a lot of sincerity.    NB:  Do you ever wonder where you would be now if you had stayed in Georgia? M:  You just gave me the willies (laughs).  I don’t think it would be good.  If I were still in Macon now, I’d probably have a bunch of kids and could possibly be miserable.  I’d work in an office somewhere; I don’t think it’d be a good thing.   — Nicole Black

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MUSIC ROCK

An unlikely trio

and a ride of unexpected sounds The Delfields threw the punk scene in New Brunswick, N.J., for a loop when it formed in 2006 with a distinctive indiepop sound: a genre hard to pin down and, in the Delfields’ case, one that mixes interesting chord progressions with melodic twists. But whatever indie-pop really is, Joseph Fekete, the band’s lead singer and songwriter, is happy to talk about The Delfields’ music and its eclectic followers.  “Depending on where we play, we will see everyone from bearded intellectuals, to guys who look like they came right out of the most glitzy night club in town, to folks who seem like they would be quite at home dining with my parents, all really enjoying what we are doing on stage,” he says. Music has always been the primary focus of Fekete’s life ever since he refused to go to bed unless someone sang him a lullaby. He later attended college at Rutgers as a full-time student, taught guitar at Lou Rose Music Center part-time and played with another band in his spare time. He met his fellow band members while teaching guitar, and The Delfields were born. Fekete didn’t immediately know twins Ryan and Kyle Shook were perfect for the band.   “The truth is when we began playing it was a very informal thing,” he says. “We went into it with no preconceived notions about what would come out of the experience.” Eight months after being introduced to the twins, The Delfields began making music for its recently released album, Ogres. A majority of the lyrics on the album are about relationships gone awry because at the time the band was recording, the boys were struggling to maintain personal relationships of their own. “The inspiration behind Ogres was essentially to turn a lot of really bad things that were happening into something good that people could enjoy,” Fekete says. “It was a rough time for us,

COURTESY team clermont

THE DELFIELDS WHO’S WHO Joseph Fekete (vocals, guitar), Ryan Shook (bass/ vocals), Kyle Shook (drums) FORMED 2006 in New Brunswick, N.J. LABEL independent LATEST RELEASE Ogres (2009) ON THE WEB http://www.myspace.com/ thedelfields

and instead of letting it win, we made lemonade.” The Delfields combine sounds from all genres, but upon hearing the band’s music, a listener might be reminded of The Shins or Death Cab For Cutie. Growing up, Fekete listened to a wide

“The inspiration behind Ogres was essentially to turn a lot of really bad things that were happening into something good that people could enjoy.” — Joseph Fekete, The Delfields— variety of music that might seem eclectic; he spent time studying The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Erik Satie, Tchaikovsky, The Ventures, Beethoven, Debussy and a lot of folk music — all of which you can catch a glimpse of on Ogres. As a complement to these diverse sounds, The Delfields even have a music video to go with the single “Ogres” consisting completely of stop-motion animation.  “I wanted the video to stand by itself as an idea independent of the song that would be further enhanced by the song’s presence. The song goes between a cheerful, bright verse to a darker and more ominous chorus, and I wanted those moods conveyed in the video,” Fekete says. “Despite the fact that I was told by many people that we should appear in it, I decided against it. All too often I see videos with footage of a band

performing or something of the like, and I find them to be boring and trite. This video really only had one character in it (whose face is visible). I approached my friend Alexander Rioh to be the main character in the video, and I think he really did a fantastic job with it.” The band hopes to release the EP Sooner Than You Think by late fall/early winter, and next summer, the band will do a few small tours. As for now, Fekete and the Shook twins will continue composing songs and sharing their music. “You don’t have the time to engage any preconceived notions,” says Fekete, explaining The Delfields’ mantra. “Things just pop up in my brain, and I am happy to let them out and introduce them to the world.” 
 —Sarah Saltzman

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MUSIC ROCK

FIGHTING FOR THE HOOK

ATLANTA QUARTET DOESN’T MISS A BEAT ON SOPHOMORE EFFORT

Believe it or not, there are those among us in the music industry still fighting for the hook. In these days of posteverything where genres break down left and right into further subcategories, the enduring pop elements of a strong melody and memorable chorus wane from the mainstream consciousness of music lovers. But try telling that to the members of Trances Arc – crafters of some of the prettiest – yes, prettiest – hooks you’ll hear today. That’s not to emasculate the Atlanta quartet in any way. On the contrary, it requires powerful descriptors like beautiful to describe the strong pop/rock sensibilities present with Michael Dorio, Brad Hagen, Daniel Silvestri and Eric Toledo. And though it might run countercultural to today’s musical trends, that’s just the way the four-piece likes it. “Melody has always been the backbone of our songs mainly because of our writing process,” says Toledo, the band’s vocalist and keyboardist. “Everyone contributes chord progressions, rhythmic ideas, tales and starryeyed stories, but if it doesn't inspire a melody, then it’s likely

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TRANCES ARC WHO’S WHO Danny Silvestri (bass), Brad Hagen (drums), Eric Toledo (guitar, keys, vocals), Michael Dorio (guitar) FORMED 2001 in Atlanta, GA LABEL independent LATEST RELEASE Trances Arc (2009) ON THE WEB www.trancesarc.com that little nugget will sit in a closet until it evokes a melody worth hammering on. We like to think that if a song can't translate with an acoustic guitar and the melody itself, then it’s crap.” “At the end of the day, if it’s not melodically infectious or at least something that someone would want to hear more than once, we generally shove it to the side,” agrees Dorio, TA’s rhythm guitarist. “We all grew up on music like that and it’s something

we want to make for other people. I’m glad that other people are hearing that when they listen to the music, because that’s what we’re aiming for.” On TA, the band’s second proper full-length, those hooks still stand front and center even as the band matures. The instrumentation feels full, the chemistry more mature, but the love of the melodic construction remains. And that will undoubtedly remain the case, no matter how far they get into their career. “I hear so many bands interviewed who say, ‘We made the record we wanted to make and I don’t really give a shit who likes it or not,’” says Dorio. “I’m thinking, ‘That’s cool, I guess.’ For me, it’s never been about that. I don’t have any strange behavioral issues or insecurities that I need to work out through my music. We’re all happy people with great families. So when we go into the studio, we want to make music to inspire people, to get them to love music.” “We all grew up on songs – song being the magic word that used to be made up of a melody and this thing that nobody likes to write any more called a ‘chorus.’,”

explains Toledo. “I can appreciate the no chorus, or the ‘antichorus.’ I loved Kid A and grew up on Mozart and Bach. But the chorus is where the connection happens for me. I won't call it a hook, cause, well, that's just selling out isn't it?” In the end, the members of Trances Arc hope the songs resonate with their intended audience and enable them to keep moving forward. It’s a humbling balance of creating melodies for the world to hear and then wondering if you’ll even get that chance. For Toledo, it’s worth the effort simply for the chance to make a new record. “As far as expectations go, I'm more the realist than my optimistic band mates,” says Toledo. “I'm of the mindset that I'm thankful for the opportunity to have captured this collection of songs. This band has been through a lot and setting high expectations is just asking for a disappointment, so I'm just grateful that Trances Arc had the opportunity to crank out another record and hope that people enjoy it as much as we enjoyed creating it.” — Matt Conner

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HELP THE PEOPLE COME HOME

WWW.PNOLA.ORG

Janelle Monae’s world of wonder, excitement and a lil’ hip hop Diddy probably summed Janelle Monae up best: “She is a true visionary, with an original sound and a mesmerizing presence. I can’t wait to watch the future unfold for Janelle.” Contestants on the music impresario’s MTV reality show “Make His Band” can only hope the boss man one day offers similar thoughts about them. Mr. Combs shouldn’t feel any lesser for falling under Monae’s spell. Numerous other rap acts, from Outkast’s Big Boi to Gnarls Barkley’s Cee-lo, have been equally enamored. And really, that’s the bizarre part in all of this: On the surface, Janelle’s colorful homogeny of funk, pop and soul seems light years away from rap’s dank corners. But leave it to the lively Monae to make sense of it all. “I’m just a lover of timeless and exceptional music,” begins the Kansas City native who moved to Georgia partially to follow in idol James Brown’s footsteps. “I’ll say it’s about the character. I don’t just gravitate towards anyone. I think that my maker put these individuals in my life, I think, to help take me to the next point. I also have a relationship with Prince. I have a relationship with a few other artists who I admire and respect in the music industry, whether it be in hip hop to rock ‘n’ roll to whatever you wanna classify it as.” Monae’s Wondaland Arts Society imprint connected with Diddy’s Bad Boy early last year in an effort to get her repackaged project Metropolis: The Chase Suite out to as many eager ears as humanly possible. Diddy respected her ingenuity and eccentricities. Monae had a similar admiration for Combs’ professionalism. “He’s been in the business for a while now,” details Monae. “I don’t care if you’re in hip hop or not, if you don’t respect me as a young woman or respect my art [we don’t have anything to discuss]. From the get-go, he’s

“I have a responsibility to creating art and coming up with new concepts and ideas. And I have a responsibility to my community, especially young girls. I really hate talking a lot, so I try to lead by example.” — Janelle Monae— been a supporter of me as a young businesswoman and as an artist. He’s helped guide me through. But at the same time, he’s left us alone as a production company and an artist to just continue to soar and soar with our art.” Janelle’s musical artistry — oh, the vibrant musician is also pretty darn handy with the paintbrush and easel, too — is beginning to get noticed by others outside of hip hop, too. Coca-Cola began work on an ad campaign called “Open Happiness” earlier this year and it needed a spunky, fresh sound for the commercial. Monae, Ceelo, Gym Class Heroes’ Travis McCoy, Fall Out Boy’s Patrick

Stump and Panic at the Disco’s Brandon Urie were hand-picked for the job. Subsequent promo tours and TV appearances have given the plucky performer even more chances to spread her unique sound. “All I have to do is continue to stay true to my values,” Monae adds. “I have a responsibility to creating art and coming up with new concepts and ideas. And I have a responsibility to my community, especially young girls. I really hate talking a lot, so I try to lead by example. I don’t like to marginalize networks like BET or MTV, for that matter, or us as an African-American culture or a Chinese culture. I always tell

MUSIC RHYME, RHYTHM & SOUL

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JANELLE MONAE WHO’S WHO Janelle Monae (vocals) FORMED 2007 in Atlanta, Ga. LABEL Atlantic LATEST RELEASE Metropolis Suites II & III ON THE WEB www.janellemonae.com

myself that people are very openminded to new concepts and ideas, but they don’t know what they wanna hear until they hear it. I feel like I’ll be heard and I feel like I’ll be seen.” — DeMarco Williams

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MUSIC ALBUM REVIEWS

ear candy Dirty Projectors Bitte Orca   The latest addition to the Dirty Projectors’ repertoire, Bitte Orca, may be the most successful to date at maintaining their unabashed musical prowess while welcoming music lovers of all levels. Throughout the ninesong piece, each instrument morphs within its unique voice: electric guitar clangs and clamors before invoking West African landscapes; bass lays down a warm bed for vocals which deliver fiercely punctuated throaty wails before settling into lustrous legatos that accent sonnet-like lyrics. The band’s ladies, Amber Coffman and Angel Deradoorian, are allowed space to shine as they respectively solo on the oddly juxtaposed 80s-style pop ballad “Stillness Is The Move” and the majestic lullaby “Two Doves,” whose swells and quivers craft a chilling otherworldliness. Dave Longstreth’s hallmarked Indian infused riffs and heady musicality are in sync with his bandmates at every turn. As the Dirty Projectors refuse to downplay their musical aptitude, they create a piece that delights in its proficiencies, daring listeners to reach above and beyond the mundane and towards the sublime. This is a brilliant addition for seasoned fans and newcomers alike, unfolding more like an animist portrait or an epic theatrical piece than a mere album. (Ingrid Sibley)

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ATHENS BLUR MAGAZINE

The Clientele Bonfires on the Heath   The descriptors that generally emerge around The Clientele’s albums won’t diversify when referencing Bonfires on the Heath. “Warm,” “inviting,” “melancholic” or “subdued” will doubtlessly be employed by reviewers ‘round the globe since the London quartet hardly changed their approach on this latest. And for the already convinced, that’s great news. The same jangling guitars still propel each track forward as they have on each recent Clientele release. The same misty fog still envelops Alasdair MacLean’s vocal arrangements. The same buoyant percussion still unfolds in the background. Thus, The Clientele’s dreamy folk/pop still remains largely intact whether ratcheting the energy up (“I Wonder Who We Are,” “Share the Night”) or choosing a more somber approach (“Tonight,” “Bonfires on the Heath”). That’s not to dismiss the variations that are present here. The Sufjanesque horns and Spanish flair on “I Know I’ll See Your Face” offer a welcome change-up on Bonfire’s second half. The same can be said of “Sketch,” an up-tempo rock romp that divides the album in half. All things considered, Bonfires on the Heath further cements The Clientele into their beautiful folk/ pop niche. While some moments classify as inventive, it’s largely a four-piece continuing to exhibit what they already do so well. (Matt Conner)

The Minus 5 Killingsworth   One of the great American eccentrics, Scott McCaughey has never quite risen above cult artist status — not because he’s too weird, but because he’s too restless. From leading '80s college rock faves the Young Fresh Fellows to working as a touring member of R.E.M., he never lacks for work but seems unwilling to fully accept the spotlight in any of his projects. Add Killingsworth to that list, as McCaughey’s latest release at the helm of The Minus 5 is as much a showcase for the talents of his assorted friends as it is his slightly askew observational storytelling. Joined by Peter Buck of R.E.M., most of the contributing cast of the Decemberists and the She Bee Gees (an all girl Bee Gees cover band), McCaughey proves to be an expert air-traffic controller, coordinating his assorted guests into a perfectly sympathetic country rock band with pedal steel, jangly electric guitars, and girl group backing vocals. The result is an album that mixes Gram Parsons’ world weary atmosphere with Ray Davies’ slice-of-life whimsy, with 14 songs veering from twisted faux-gospel sing-alongs (“I Would Rather Sacrifice You”) to strummy Dylan-esque folk (“Big Beat Up Moon”) and homicidal honky-tonk weepers (“Tonight You’re Buying Me a Drink, Bub”). As always, McCaughey lets his songs speak for him. (Matt Fink )

Pastels/Tenniscoats Two Sunsets

Radney Foster Revival   Honestly, after the year Radney Foster’s had—losing his father, reuniting with his son after 12 years and turning 50—it’s no wonder he enlisted his road band The Confessions to record Revival. And that’s exactly what you feel like you’ve gone through by the end of its thirteen tracks. It’s not preachy — rather like an “Amen!” to the human spirit. Between the opening track, the upbeat and hopeful “A Little Revival,” and the last, an acoustic reprise of the same, Radney gives his takes on faith, love, redemption, forgiveness, death, trust and self-assurance. And as with any revival worth its salt, the tempo ebbs and flows from foot-tapping rock to heartwrenching ballads, with a standup-in-the-aisle-and-sing gospel thrown in for good measure. Radney recruited pals Dierks Bentley and Darius Rucker to help out. Dierks chimes in on “Until It’s Gone,” an upbeat reminder that half-assing it in life ain’t gonna cut it. Darius helps out on the solemn but proud “Angel Flight,” named for the journey the Air Force National Guard makes to bring fallen soldiers home (a portion of the album's proceeds will go to families struck by such tragedy). By the end, you’ll find that Radney has left no human condition untouched. Anyone with a soul can take something from this offering. (Phil Pyle)

There's no telling what's to come from musical collaborations, which I guess is the point. Sometimes they create enthralling fusions – De La Soul with Teenage Fanclub, Gorillaz, hell, De La Soul with anyone – and sometimes the results are tragic – David Bowie and Mick Jagger anyone? When Glasgow's The Pastels and Tokyo's Tenniscoats joined forces, there was room for excitement. After all, The Pastels are considered the godfathers of twee, while Tenniscoats has a proven record of forging pop alliances for elegant albums. It sounds like a perfect match. But it's not. While Two Sunsets is not a stupefying disaster of pop minds, it's not a stunning piece of work either. It slumbers early on, dragging through a five-minute “Song For a Friend” that feels like forever. “Vivid Youth” awakens the album a bit, serving as an example of what The Pastels do best yet revealing little collaborative thought. While evidence of cooperation proves true as Sunsets progresses — “Boats” is a charming piece, while Sodone's lilting guitar and Tenniscoats' Saya Ueno's playful singing highlight the best of both bands — too often the songs become background. Maybe the bands spent too much time catering to one another (the album did take three years to make) instead of stamping Sunsets with a sole identity. The only defined track is not even their song. “About You,” a Jesus and Mary Chain cover, is a decent take but feels out of sorts — sounding like a late addition. On their own The Pastels and Tenniscoats produce both purposeful and dynamic music, but together they come across as muted and tame. And the result is just, well, nice. Not bad, but then again not good. (Ed Morales) Bowerbirds Upper Air   “One morning you wake to find you are shackled to your bed and bound and gagged. Oh my, what a predicament.” So opens Upper Air, the second album from Raleigh, North Carolina’s Bowerbirds, a visceral and often vivid exploration of love, self and nature. Picking up where 2007’s Hymns for a Dark Horse left off, vocalist/guitarist Phil Moore and multiinstrumentalist Beth Tacular construct songs out of soft edges and earthbound metaphors, honing their craft into a series of musty folk-pop songs that refine but rarely depart from their template of strummed acoustic guitars and mewing accordions. Moore remains a captivating presence, using his softly mellifluous croon to bring to life a cast of stately pines, diamond houses, nervous coyotes, and wandering minds to weave together a multi-layered exploration of man’s relationship to himself, others and the earth. To that end, the expansive imagery tends toward New Age tropes every now and again, but Tacular’s bittersweet touches of violin, piano and accordion help steer Moore back from the edge of freak-folk platitudes. The arrangements provide remarkable replay value, revealing new countermelodies and textural shifts with every listen, from the slowly awakening percussion underneath the gorgeous melodic twists of “Silver Clouds” to the atmospheric rumbling and autoharp strums on the closing “This Day.” All in all, Upper Air surveys a unique internal landscape, one whose words create a mood of mystery and whose melodies ache with sincerity, an album that announces its presence in its first moments and continues the conversation until its last. (Matt Fink)

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Rachel Williams Lovers & Liars 24-year-old Nashville Star alumna Rachel Williams (no relation to Hank) is a simply sensational live performer who's good at getting her hooks into the listener early on, and that's proven with the album's opener, a hooky rockin' country number which shows she isn't afraid to get her hands dirty and plow on through for a chance new love might grow in “Unbroken Ground.” “You Let Me” sees things settle (a bit more sadly) down to reality with lyrics like “I never would have guessed|That you could be so heartless|How could I have known that you'd let me let you go?” Things seem to take a turn for the worst again on the next track; however, once one hears the “but” in “What If We Do,” there soon follows several signs of a possible more positive end in sight. Another thing to love about Lovers & Liars (her third release, by the way) is an outspoken statement which comes courtesy of “I'm A Woman,” another uptempo whose hook is “I'm a woman (to love).” The song wraps up with Rachel proclaiming “I'm a woman, I'm a woman, I'm a woman...” as if there could be any doubt! Unfortunately she may be loved a little too much — on “In Between” an old flame continues to call her up, though they both know it's not a wise move. The affecting soulful plea begins with “please don't call me, as harmless as it seems.” Also, Rachel actually deserves the designation of “performing songwriter” — having co-written everything on this collection (she even co-produced). Several other writers of note contributed, including Bruce Wallace (“Unbroken Ground”) and Angela Kaset (“Where My Line Is”) pen behind Lorrie Morgan's smash single “Something in Red,” among others. No lie — in this case, perhaps some pop-country isn't as bad as some folks think it's cracked up to be.  (Melissa Coker)

A Sunny Day in Glasgow Ashes Grammar

Guy Clark Somedays the Song Writes You

Hank Williams 127 Rose Avenue

I'm not one to pigeonhole bands by where they come from, after all not every band from Seattle is grungy, nor is every band from Nashville stuck on country. But after a first listen of Ashes Grammar by A Sunny Day in Glasgow, I was rather sure I had the band pegged as European, maybe not Scottish (too obvious), but certainly from the UK. Those Banco de Gaia electronic interludes, the dreamy Cocteau Twins (easy reach, I know) lyrics, that overt Sigur Ros resonance — no doubt they were from across the pond. So it makes perfect sense they're from — Philadelphia. Philadelphia? Rocky Balboa, obnoxious sports fans, cheesesteaks? Amazingly — yes. From the City of Brotherly Love, directed by Ben Daniels and his sisters Robin and Lauren, comes an impossible dream of an album, laid out like a delicate meal. The 22song disc moves with purpose, whetting your appetite with a gentle opening (“Slaughter Killing Courage and Failure”), a determined middle (“Close Chorus,” “Shy,” “Nitetime Rainbows”), and a satisfying ending (“Staring at a Disadvantage,” “Headphone Space”). In between are seamless pauses of sound, some full songs others instrumental experiments, which bend and fold like conversations between courses. Despite its hour-long run time, Ashes never lingers nor overstays its welcome — when it ends it comes as a surprise, which is fitting. For a Philadelphia band to create such music is a revelation, evidence the unexpected comes from the oddest of places. So give it up for ambient pop and cheesesteaks. Only in America. ( Ed Morales)

As a whole, country music artists have longevity unmatched by those in any other music category. Rappers have a career span in the single digits—how quickly would Dana Dane get laughed offstage today? And I doubt we are in danger of anyone covering W.A.S.P. songs in the foreseeable future. But Texas-born Guy Clark is another story. For those new to the troubadour, singer/songwriter genre, it’s definitely an acquired taste. As with John Prine, Townes Van Zandt, and even Johnny Cash, their vocals are/were not their strong suit. Mr. Clark is no exception. But lyrically, you find yourself waiting on the next word. It’s not too far off from listening to an audio book. On Somedays…, a perfect example is “The Guitar,” an eerie story of a guy finding a guitar that empowers him to play like hell. The last line is the haunting clincher, told in the same vein as David Allan Coe’s “The Ride” (sorry, no spoilers here). He also reveals his knack for turning a phrase, as with “Everyone’s got some baggage/But she knows how to travel light” and “When she don’t say nothin’/Man I hang on every word.” Granted, not every song is a masterpiece—some would be better sung by someone else—but as an artist, Guy can still crank out a good album after all these years. He probably won’t win over a truckload of new fans with this one, but given the following that Texas singer/ songwriters have, he’ll have plenty of takers.   (Phil Pyle)

Every rose has its thorn. And Hank’s not afraid to show his thorny side on 127 Rose Avenue, with powerful takes on justice, near-poverty, family trees, bluegrass, women with over-the-top tastes, and more. Avenue finds him walking new streets on his first album of all-new material since 2003’s I’m One of You. The cleverly-titled first single “Red, White, and Pink Slip Blues,” almost immediately slows things down and takes a long hard look at financial life, or lack thereof. Its message is hard to sum up but it’s impossible to not be affected in some way. Apparently it pays to listen up. Seconds later, Hank loses the cut-to-the-heart conviction found on “Blues” and jumps right into the incredibly catchy “High Maintenance Woman.” Oh, and thank God - this is NOT the same-named Toby Keith song. Williams Jr. wrote it himself, and it’s not hard to believe he’s lived it too (background singers and all). Single-worthy, it sings “she’s a high maintenance woman and I’m a low budget man.” Keep your ears open for the phone ring; don’t let it lead you to reach for your own (phone). “It’s like I’m on the Opry, standing there with Bill Monroe,” says Hank of “All the Roads,” done with bluegrass maestros The Grascals (c’mon, it’s in their name). Rose definitely proves the perfect home to grow well into the grass on “Roads.” The two acts sound nature-made for each other. On “Blues,” he asks “Is anybody listening?” and if they’re smart they will. Let’s just hope it’s not another six years before there’s more…his music brings significantly more than most radio gives it credit for. (Melissa Coker)

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MUSIC THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY

MUSIC THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY 1930 - Hoagy Carmichael records “Georgia on My Mind,” which had already been the state song of Georgia since 1922.

1998 - An American Airlines flight makes an emergency stop when a passenger becomes violent after meeting Hootie & The Blowfish on the plane.

1998 – Rapper Coolio is booked and released for marijuana possession and a concealed weapons charge.

2003 - David Lee Roth injures himself (to the tune of 21 stitches) while doing a very fast, complicated 15th-century samurai move onstage. This eventually causes the cancellation of the remaining tour dates.

1992 - Howard Stern appears as “Fartman” on MTV’s Video Music Awards.

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1977 - Blondie signs its first major deal with Chrysalis. 1995 – The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & Museum opens in Cleveland. 1963 - The Angels become the first white all-female group to have a No.1 record. 1971 - The Grateful Dead’s ex-manager is arrested for embezzling $70,000.

1942 - Frank Sinatra begins his solo career. 1955 - Bill Haley & the Comets refuse the band’s first offer to tour outside the U.S. because of a fear of flying.

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1987 – Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand” is cancelled after 30 years on television. 1993 - Dave Navarro joins The Red Hot Chili Peppers. 1961 - Bob Dylan makes his debut in New York City at Gaslight Café. 2000 – A U.S. District Judge awards Universal Music $118-250 million in damages after ruling MP3.com had violated numerous copyright laws.

1965 - The Who’s equipment van is stolen while purchasing a guard dog at Battersea Dog’s Home in England. 2002 - Kelly Clarkson becomes the first “American Idol.”

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1976 - Paul McCartney commemorates Buddy Holly’s 40th birthday with the first “Buddy Holly Week.”

1970 – James Taylor releases his first single, “Fire and Rain.”

1996 - Tupac Shakur is shot in Las Vegas after a Mike Tyson fight. He dies six days later.

1988 - Elton John sells costumes and memorabilia at a London auction for $6.2 million.

1998 - Vince Gill makes his 100th appearance at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry.

1953 - Liberace makes his Carnegie Hall debut before a sellout crowd.

1992 - Barbara Streisand appears at a fundraiser for the U.S. Democratic Party – her first such appearance in six years.

1987 - Peter Tosh is shot and killed by robbers at his home in Jamaica.

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1996 - Hank Williams III makes his Grand Ole Opry debut at age 23.

1979 - “Rapper’s Delight” by The Sugar Hill Gang is released.

1971 - “The Jackson Five” TV series debuts on ABC.

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1989 - The Bangles call it quits.

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1993 - David Crosby and George Harrison appear on the fifth season premiere of “The Simpsons.”

1995 - Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy” becomes the second single to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, a feat first accomplished by Michael Jackson with “You Are Not Alone.”

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1971 - Peter Frampton leaves Humble Pie in pursuit of a solo career.

1994 - Eric Clapton performs on “Saturday Night Live.”

1995 - Natalie Merchant begins her first solo tour after quitting the 10,000 Maniacs.

1998 – Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler throws out the first pitch at a Expos-Cardinal baseball game in St. Louis.

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1994 – R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe signs a movie deal with New Line Cinema.

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2006 - Whitney Houston files for divorce from Bobby Brown, whom she married in 1992. 1974 - Stevie Wonder begins his first tour since a near-fatal car wreck.

1983 - The members of KISS appear without makeup on MTV.

1980 - Geffen Records is formed.

1966 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono meet in an art gallery. 1998 - Sex Pistol Johnny Rotten appears as the defendant on “Judge Judy” in a case involving a drummer who sued Rotten for headbutting him during a dispute.

1814 - Francis Scott Key pens the “StarSpangled Banner.” On March 3, 1931, the song becomes the official United States Anthem. 1979 - Kenny Rogers is awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1986 - Headlined by James Brown, Freddie Jackson and Melba Moore, New York’s Plaza Hotel hosts an “AntiCrack Rally.” 1973 - Gram Parsons (The Byrds) dies of a drug overdose. 1974 - Max Weinberg makes his debut as the drummer for Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band.

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1991 – Garth Brooks Ropin’ the Wind becomes the first country album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart. 1964 - “Fiddler on the Roof” opens on Broadway, beginning a remarkable run of 3,242 performances.

1979 - Abba begins its first North American tour in Canada.

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1972 - David Bowie sells out Carnegie Hall – his first stateside sell out.

1970 – 27 year-old James Marshall “Jimi” Hendrix dies in London from a sleeping pill overdose.

1974 - Robbie McIntosh (Average White Band) dies of a heroin overdose at the age of 24.

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1964 - The Beach Boys appear on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time with a performance of “I Get Around.” 2004 - Phil Spector is charged with murder in the 2003 death of actress Lana Clarkson.

1969 – The Beatles release “Abbey Road,” the group’s final album together.

1977 - James Brown’s band walks out on him in Hallandale, Fla., claiming to be underpaid and overworked.

1998 - MTV Russia makes its debut at midnight.

1996 - Alanis Morissette finishes her first U.S. tour with a show in Houston, Texas. ATHENS BLUR MAGAZINE

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Amerie: In Love & War Boys Like Girls: Love Drunk The Clean: Mister Pop Danko Jones: Never Too Loud Marie Digby: Breathing Underwater Os Mutantes: Haih Or Barauna Polvo: Prism Vivian Girls: Everything Goes Wrong Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson: Break Up

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The 69 Eyes: Back In Blood Aluminum Babe: 17 Beastie Boys: Hot Sauce Committee Part 1 Big Star: Keep An Eye On The Sky [Box Set] Butterfly Boucher: Scary Fragile Mariah Carey: Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel DD/MM/YYYY: Black Square The Dynamites: Burn It Down Fink: Sort Of Revolution The Fresh & Onlys: Grey-Eyed Girls Kyle Hollingsworth [String Cheese Incident]: Then There’s Now Ricky Skaggs: Ricky Skaggs Solo (Songs My Dad Loved) Ryan Starr: 11:59 Uncle Cracker: Happy Hour

Release dates are subject to change. Check artists or store websites as these dates approach.

Hey local bands! Got a release date coming up? Let us know at [email protected]

sept

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Alice In Chains: Black Gives Way To Blue Beat Circus: Boy From Black Mountain Cherry Poppin’ Daddies: Susquehanna Nelly Furtado: Mi Plan Kris Kristofferson: Closer to the Bone La Roux: La Roux MadLove: White With Foam The Melvins: Chicken Switch [remix album] Paramore: Brand New Eyes Phonograph: OKNO Princeton: Cocoon Of Love Lynyrd Skynyrd: God & Guns Barbara Streisand: Love Is The Answer Swell Season: Strict Joy

oct

06

Air: Love 2 Lou Barlow: Goodnight Unknown The Clientele: Bonfires On The Heath The Gossip: Music For Men Mayer Hawthorne: A Strange Arrangement Headlights: Wildlife Lake: Let’s Build A Roof Lotus: Feather On Wood [EP] Lotus: Oil On Glass [EP] The Mountain Goats: The Life of the World to Come Music Go Music: Expressions No Age: Losing Feeling [EP] A Place To Bury Strangers: Exploding Head The Raveonettes: In And Out Of Control

oct

13

Neon Indian: Psychic Charms Pink Martini: Splendor In The Grass Those Who Lie Beneath: An Awakening

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8/5 — Neptune Park / Virginia Beach, VA come check out our expanded retail & distribution facility 195 Paradise Blvd. * Athens, Ga. * 30607

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David and I started Cracker in Richmond in '91, so Virginia shows are like home games. We've had several great gigs here at Neptune Park but still the locale always feels a little surreal to me. The stage is near the beach under what looks like a huge, overturned serving dish or spaceship. Across the grassy quad is a gigantic statue of the park's namesake, trident raised fervently, threatening tourists and the oddly mixed cross section of humanity that is a Cracker audience. I'm wondering if our song "Brides Of Neptune" would be too obvious but what the hell, we always play it when we are near an ocean. After sound check I remind the guys that there is splendid seafood (my favorite) in the restaurant beneath the swank hotel there that we can't afford to stay in. The head waiter comes over, shakes my hand and says "I'm a huge fan Dave! Have a great show." Frank, Sal and I have a hearty chuckle about his blatantly insincere overtures. I cringe whenever someone refers to my long time song writing partner as "Dave" instead of David. He is so not a "Dave." The show begins well enough in spite of warnings of an approaching storm. Great crowd, some very pretty girls who would soon be drenched when the approaching lightning and thunder eventually drown out the band and the torrential downpour commences around song number nine. The promoters stop the show. There were actually a few people who seemed angry at us for being told to stop in spite of being in real danger. Beer a factor? The crew helped us drag our damp gear into the dressing room as we waved goodbye to the fans. Great gig while it lasted — Neptune has his way. ( Johnny Hickman)

8/7 — The Record Collector/ Bordentown, NJ SAE ATLANTA www.sae-atl.com 404-526-9366

After fleeing the stage at Neptune Park in Virginia Beach due to hurricane-like conditions, we drove to Richmond (our home base) for a day off. Today, we head to Bordentown, NJ, for an “in-store” at an awesome record store called “The Record Collector”. As we’re loading in, I start cherry-picking some 45’s from their vast selection. I swoop up some Ronettes, Otis Redding, Bobby Vee and B. J. Thomas. Being an avid record collector myself, I’m in hog heaven. We play a sold out show to about 100 diehard Cracker fans in the store. Afterward, we meet and greet with the fans, and I get back to the serious business of shopping for L.P.s Yes, that’s right, vinyl. I score “I Fought the Law” by Bobby Fuller 4 and Van Morrison’s “His Band & St. Choir.” (Sal Maida)

photo: jason thrasher

8/8 — Mountain State Brewing Company, Thomas, WV This show was really very cool. It was in one of those indoor yet outdoor kind of places, you know, the whole rear wall of the club open to the elements. The elements were kind to us, a perfect August night in West Virginia. On the way to the club I was trippin' on how beautiful the scenery was... A perfect vacation spot, beautiful, wooded areas, cabins on the lakes and such. After the show I was having a conversation with a local woman who turned out to be a realtor, and she told me that in all of West Virginia, there was only one natural lake, and all the rest were man-made. She also told me that she could get me a vacation cabin rental cheap. I'm seriously thinking about taking her up on that offer, after the "endless tour" dies down, that is. It's been a very busy summer, and thank God for it, but whew! Thursday we were in Richmond, Friday we drove five hours up north to Bordentown and Saturday we drove six hours back down south to Thomas, WV. I used to get pretty freaked out by crazy routing like this, hopping up and down like a yo-yo instead of doing shows by proximity, but over the years I have come to realize that you have to take the gigs when you get the availability... clubs won't just wipe their calendar for Cracker. So, after a very winding road we arrive at our destination, the Mountain State Brewing Company. We set up and soundcheck in front of the locals, and the hired soundcrew was on their game — the PA and monitors perfect for the room. Sounded pretty great onstage, and that's not always the case. They fed us at the club — a local hippie catering company prepared the meal, and it was actually fantastic. The show was really, really good. The band is firing on all cylinders, having been out pounding the stages since our new record (yes, I still call them records) came out in the beginning of May. There was a pretty serious film crew there with a camera on a crane and a couple of other handheld camera folks running around. No Martin Scorcese though. I wonder what it was for. Local TV? A major motion picture about Cracker? Anyway, after the show I tried the local brew, and it was delicious. Then I strolled across the parking lot to our hotel, past the biker bar that was just getting started. As a matter of fact, as I walked past, the song “Start Me Up” came blasting out of the joint. Back in the day, that woulda been an invitation like a lightbulb is to a moth, but these days I’m taking better care of myself. Three local pints and I’m down for the count. The show must go on. (Frank Funaro)

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8/9 - Mountain Stage, Charleston, WV This is a gig I was really looking forward to, the prestigious Mt. Stage Theatre! Cracker has performed there several times prior to me joining up in 2006, but it’s a first for me and the whole experience is extremely enjoyable. The stage amps are already set for each instrument so you just plug in and it’s “ready steady go.” We play with acts that have a heavy-duty musical pedigree. Cody Dickinson’s band is like the Allman’s meet early Fleetwood Mac. I tell Cody what a fan I am of his dad, Jim, who sadly passed away just last week. Also on the bill is Austin singing legend Marcia Ball, and Don Dixon is the house band’s bass player. Don Dixon, of course, co-produced the landmark “Murmur” LP by REM. We play four songs from our new CD Sunrise in the Land of Milk & Honey, but have to replay one song due to technical difficulties. After listening to Johnny take part in the all star jam, we re-cut “ I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right.” Looking forward to climbing the Mountain Stage again! (Sal Maida)

8/14 – Wisconsin State Fair, West Allis, WI Ah, the State Fair. The rides, the livestock, the food. Everything is available on a stick here. I was just told of (no shit) deep-fried, chocolate-covered bacon on a stick. Served cold. Yum. The weather is scorching, and we spend much of the day hanging out in an air-conditioned trailer, one of about five different trailers in the backstage area. Thank God our show isn’t ‘til 8 p.m. — the 95 degree heat should be gone by then. I spend a little while watching the afternoon entertainment, a song and dance troupe named Kids From Wisconsin, or some such. Quite a show they put on. There’s like 14 musicians and 20 dancers onstage doing everything from Abba to ZZ Top (Ok, they weren’t doing ZZ Top, but I needed to get that “Z” in there). After every couple of songs the dancers would bolt back to the trailers for a complete costume change while the band vamped on instrumental versions of hits from the day. After about an hour of this exhausting-looking activity, they took a well deserved break.

“Over the years, I have come to realize that you have to take the gigs when you get the availability... clubs won’t just wipe their calendar for Cracker.” —Frank Funaro, Cracker

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During this time, I was talking to the drummer, who was on percussion duty that day, since the percussionist’s parents were there to see their kid play — so he was out front on the drumset, up on a big riser with a plexiglass cage around him. The guy I was talking to, turns out, there’s a percussion setup behind the stage, out of view of the audience, and that’s where he was banging on congas and whatnot. I was watching him play from backstage. Anyway, this kid was telling me everyone in the troupe is in high school or college, and they spend their summer vacation touring state fairs and high school auditoriums. 60 shows a summer, he said. Turns out, these kids were appearing at the fair for a couple of weeks, and the previous week, the band that was in our slot was Night Ranger. Night Ranger set up a shitload of gear and refused to move it, so this kid was trying to push the drum riser a little off center so they could set up. He got yelled at, apparently. Boo, hiss, Night Ranger. After the kids, there were Chinese acrobats, and THAT was a trip. They were defying gravity in some weird way, kinda lookin’ all “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and shit jumping through hoops and over each other. Wicked choreography. And there was a girl who balanced champagne glasses on her body while contorted in ways you can only imagine. Oh yeah, we played good, even without a proper soundcheck. (Frank Funaro)

8/15 - First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN This place is an institution and always a great gig for us. The main man Conrad has been doing a great job there for so long that I imagine him living in a dimly lit yet splendid belfry apartment above this legendary venue. This is the stage where much of Prince's "Purple Rain" was filmed, and The Replacements and Soul Asylum forged their careers here. Dead Man Winter featuring our good friend David Simonett from Trampled By Turtles opened the show and lent us their amps and drums since we had flown in. A strong performance by them which pleased the crowd considerably. I'd put Cracker's performance at a solid eight out of 10. I was in the mood to go mingle and enjoyed a few "Caucasians" handed to me by some fellow Big Lebowski fans. All in all a great day. 8/14 – Wisconsin State ( Johnny Hickman) Fair, West Allis, WI

Acclaimed electronic duo Zero 7 gets “haunted” making album number four. by Natalie David

There are only about 10 countries in the world that play cricket well, and Sam Hardaker, who along with Henry Binns makes up the core of Zero 7, is spending a Thursday afternoon watching two of those teams duke it out. “If you can imagine a sporting event that goes on for five days, that’s what’s happening now,” he says. “Pretty much anyone who can is sitting around all day watching it.” After a brief lesson about cricket — “It’s an acquired taste,” he says — Hardaker speaks just as candidly about his band’s new album, Yeah Ghost. Described as a “haunting process,” the creation of the electronic duo’s latest release was far from smooth sailing. Whereas 2006’s Grammy-nominated The Garden fell together with ease, Yeah Ghost was an uphill battle from the start, in part due to the absence of longtime collaborator and vocalist Sia Furler, who is now a solo artist. Without their muse, the pair was left to seek a new voice to fill a growing void. “Going into things with an unknown quantity is such a gamble,” Hardaker says, “because if you start and you don’t have that, you can suddenly find yourself a year into it and people will be going, ‘How’s the record?’ and I’ll go, ‘Yeah, we’ve got loads of good stuff,’ but in the back of my mind I’m thinking, ‘Well, nowhere because we don’t have that person.’” For Yeah Ghost, that person turned out

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to be London-based soul/jazz vocalist Eska Mtungwazi. Although a somewhat obvious choice (members of the revolving Zero 7 band had played with Mtungwazi in the past), she hid right under their noses until the duo was lost, knee deep in the creative swamps.  “It was just one of those things where it was right there but we didn’t really think about it until later on in the process of making the record,” Hardaker says, relating that the experience with Mtungwazi was an incredibly positive one. “Just with the vocals and the amazing backing vocal parts … to watch somebody else’s imagination take off on it, that’s what we hope for all the time, and it doesn’t always happen.” Finding Mtungwazi set the group back on track and gave the album a masthead. Without their missing piece, the creation of Yeah Ghost found Hardaker and Binns charting various musical tributaries, leading Hardaker to remark that at different points in the process it could have turned out as “a number of different records.” He laughs uneasily about the number of changes in direction the path to Yeah Ghost took, and he even admits that everything came together at the last second when the band chose to omit songs that once were intended to be integral pieces to the puzzle. “Even at the very end of the process, when

it comes to compiling things together, there was this moment where I slightly crossed my fingers and I thought, ‘I hope all of this shit does actually form something kind of cohesive,’ because the way that this album came together was quite desperate, a little bit,” Hardaker says. “But to me it just shows that you can’t really predict because the minute you think, ‘Oh! We’ve just gotten the hang of this record making thing,’ you get thrown something that knocks you. I’m no more hip to this process than I was on the first record.” That first record was 2001’s now-classic Simple Things, an album that has, among other accolades, sprouted songs heard on “C.S.I.,” “House,” “Sex and the City”   and the soundtrack to 2004’s Zach Braff-directed soul-searcher,  “Garden State.”  Like Yeah Ghost, Simple Things was an anticipated release. Hardaker and Binns had made their names in London as engineers during the tail end of the last decade working on albums for names as notable as the Pet Shop Boys and Robert Plant. When the duo decided they wanted to pursue a music career out from behind the boards, their friend, producer Nigel Godrich, gave them the task of remixing Radiohead’s “Climbing Up the Walls.” But just as Simple Things showed no growing pains, Yeah Ghost hardly betrays its difficult

photo: sammy green

Seeing Ghosts

culmination. Following the brighter disposition shown on The Garden, Yeah Ghost simply sashays out with a swankier soul. Mtungwazi makes her presence known, especially on the riotous “Medicine Man,” alongside other collaborations with English folkie Martha Tilston and electronic hip-hopper Rowdy Superstar. As with the making of Yeah Ghost, the use of differing collaborators also poses complications for faithfully touring in support of the record. The group hopes to reach the United States by the end of the year, however, Hardaker knows, considering Mtungwazi’s upcoming solo album and the typical scheduling conflicts of touring, it could be a logistical nightmare waiting to happen. “Sometimes it can just be a real pain in the ass. There’s just so much to organize, and logistically things became so difficult that … that was part of the difficulties of making the record,” Hardaker says. “Oftentimes we would be struggling and say, ‘Why can’t we just do this ourselves? Why don’t we just get somebody and decide that we’re a band and just hang out and make records?’ But that’s not where we’re at.” Ultimately, Hardaker and Binns refuse to allow personnel issues to inhibit their ability to create. The collaborator-fueled challenges actually offered the duo clarity: a chance to pursue musical endeavors outside of the Zero 7 moniker. Songs that otherwise would be set aside were suddenly given lives of their own. “It made us realize that actually it was really important for us to start creating different outlets to finish our work, and not for it all to just be about finding the person who is going to help us make the next Zero 7 record,” Hardaker says. “So we’ve gone back to doing numerous projects, small things, to give us a chance to breathe out and let things go.” When things get too intense, Hardaker at least knows how to spend a slow Thursday. “If you find an afternoon and you’re not feeling particularly energetic,” he says, “just put your feet up and enjoy a bit of cricket.” And keep your eye out for that googly. B

Inspiration be damned, Tortoise soldiers on

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nterpol. Arcade Fire. Animal Collective. TV on the Radio. Every year brings a new album that temporarily rewrites the job description for an indie rock artist, with a new army of bands clamoring to remake themselves and release albums that will inevitably sound dated by the time the next year’s pace-changer arrives. Though they were so cerebral and an unlikely candidate, thirteen years ago Tortoise was that band, their Millions Now Living Will Never Die representing the indisputable cutting edge of underground music, introducing a jazz sophistication to indie rock and creating a new genre of ambitiously eclectic instrumental music that was becoming known as “post-rock.” For that moment, the horizons of rock music belonged to the Chicago quintet, and for that moment it was hard to imagine any proverbial hares catching up with them. But the penalty of being a trendsetter is that your influence is soon diluted by the sea of imitators that get swept up in your creative surge, and in 2009 it’s easy to forget how revolutionary and challenging those records were, how much Tortoise served to sever the relationship between indie rock’s punk roots and the wide-ranging embrace of electronic, jazz, dub and avant-garde minimalism that today bubbles up through the genre’s most vibrant bands. The ideas came fast and frantically, so fast, in fact, that they had assembled a catalog thick with so many assorted inspired moments that they had to release a 179minute box set just to tie together their years of miscellaneous loose ends. But when Tortoise sat down to make, Beacons of Ancestorship, their sixth full-length record, they found it hard to say anything, inspired or otherwise. “I’m not really sure why,” says guitarist Jeff Parker, sounding as baffled now by the band’s creative inertia as he was then. “It was a very strange feeling. We just felt like we were running in place. It was stuff that was really conceptual, like making sounds and doing stuff like everyone playing a drum track and we’d edit it together. But none of the stuff was really going anywhere. It was a lot of interesting ideas,

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photo: kurt iswarienkow

Ignoring The Hare

by Matt Fink

but we weren’t really creating anything. It wasn’t inspiring us to work on songs. So then we set up instruments and just played together, and it was kind of the same thing, just a lot of interesting ideas. But we weren’t being very productive, and we weren’t coming up with anything to work on. We were in a rut, because the previous two records, we just went into the studio and winged it, and we tried it again,” he says with a pause. “But it wasn’t working.” So, for the first time in years, Tortoise decided to work outside of the confines of drummer John McEntire’s Chicago studio and went back to their rehearsal space, cleaned it out, and started over. After nearly 20 years as a band, they had some baggage and bad habits to unpack, and a few times a week they did just that, with each member bringing in long percolating ideas that were pulled from half-remembered ideas and computer hard drives. Still nothing. Then, McEntire brought in “Prepare Your Coffin,” a decidedly unsophisticated blast of no-frills fuzz synths and swirling guitar riffs that was fun to play, even if it broke no new ground. Soon, the group mind was pulsating in unison, and they were debuting their new material at festival gigs. A new album was born, one that moved away from the slow-building electronic atmospheres of recent albums and onto the sprawling margins of everything they’d flirted with but never quite consummated. “Definitely, we felt pressure that, with this one, it had to be a bigger step from the last two records, because those two are almost a little connected in that we started to get a little more aggressive and started using more distortion,” says multi-instrumentalist Dan Bitney of Beacons. “The minimalism thing that we had going on [with earlier records] really disappeared. I don’t think we were reacting as much to what was happening around us, and we steered ourselves toward a more conventional rock band. A song would be drums, keyboards, bass guitar, and maybe vibes, which isn’t even that weird anymore. With this one, it was like, ‘God, it has to be a bigger step!’ There are abstract references to genres, and there is some slight hip-hop stuff

and some punk rock. You feel relief that you made this music, but it’s like, ‘Oh my God, we have so many more decisions.'” Those decisions included just how one sequences an album that ranges from electronic prog (“High Class Slim Came Floatin’ In”) to Spaghetti Western guitar instruments (“The Fall of Seven Diamonds”) and furious blasts of punk rock (“Yinxianghechengqi”). How do you tie together minimalist blips and bloops (“Gigantes”) with polyrhythmic time changes and schizophrenic textural twists (“Monument Six One Thousand”)? But despite the constant stylistic shifts and hard left turns, it’s a remarkably focused release, one that expands on the borders of their definitive style while pushing them away from the improvisational scenes that were previously eager to claim them. “I remember finishing this record and being like, ‘This one is going to close the jazz festival door,’” Bitney laughs. “John McEntire would be like, ‘No way, man! They’re going to love it! We’re still going to get offers.’ But we have this baggage of the jam band, and I think people want to not go too far into that, because that’s scary or something,” Bitney admits. “But when I hear someone say ‘jamming,’ I say, ‘Well, we don’t jam. We can improvise here and there.’ Somehow, to me, those are super different things. There’s not a lot of that on the record. I think that’s something that we could do that could be interesting, but you have to learn how to do it. You have to create a situation and then plug away at it. It’s kinda all improvising unless you have a piece like “Prepare Your Coffin,” where it’s like ‘Here are the chords.’ But even then I could go in and be like, ‘Well, I’m going to try saxophone on this,” he laughs. “And everyone would say, ‘Yes!’ or ‘Well, that was a dumb idea!’ But you have to go for it and try.” Yet despite their willingness to exhaust every possible creative option, the members of Tortoise live daily with the knowledge that they work in an artistic medium where today’s blog sensation will be wiped off headlines and hipster tongues within six months, one where intricately arranged instrumental music doesn’t translate for short attention spans and iPods. In the age of the shuffle mix, Tortoise is a decidedly awkward fit. “It’s a great feeling that we’re making music that I think is kind of strange and it kind of works,” Bitney admits. “But it feels fragile, too. It only takes your promoter and your agent to have a ticket price that’s a little too high, and you’re like, 'Why did we let that happen?' We were just in New York a couple of weeks ago, and there are people that come up to the merch booth and just give you money, like, ‘I’m really sorry, man, but I downloaded your record. Here’s 20 bucks.’ I shouldn’t really say all this, because of the label…”he says, trailing off. “It’s a weird problem.” Whatever the case, aside from a slightly larger following and slightly shorter song times, Tortoise in 2009 isn’t really that much different than Tortoise circa 1994, still holding a place comfortably outside of the movements that have tried to copy them, tried to claim them, and finally just tried to keep up with them. Even if the albums come more slowly and the creative gears grind with more deliberation, Tortoise is still making albums that challenge themselves and their audience, remaining relevant long after most of their successors have faded into irrelevancy. “I feel like, as a band, we’ve taken a huge step forward in the past year or so,” Parker says. “We’ve figured out that there’s another way to work and come up with stuff. In the world of rock, we’re in such a youth-oriented culture. I guess we are veterans, because most of us have been playing in bands since we were adolescents, 12, 13, 14, 15 years old. But all of us are really thankful that we’ve had the opportunity to be in a band that is as creatively fulfilling as Tortoise, because a lot of people, man, they don’t get to do that. So just to be an elder statesman is a feat unto itself, especially in indie rock, with fickle audiences and record labels that come and go,” he says with a thoughtful pause. B “We’re extremely thankful.”

After an eight-year absence, an energized Circulatory System returns with a new album

Suddenly, Will Cullen Hart is talking about stray cats. And no, not the 1980s rockabilly

T R A E H d n ha n i r

Thrashe n o s a J s by s | photo

orale by Ed M

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band. ∫ “There’s so many of them in Athens, they’re all over the place,” he said, sitting Indian style in the corner of his couch, wearing a beat-up straw hat with an orange tabby kitten asleep in his lap. “In this town there are thousands, thousands of them. I heard a guy on the radio talking about it and he said it would be better if we eradicated them. But I understand both sides.” ∫ Hart counts five cats in his household, not including the strays perusing the backyard. As he talks, two cats roam the living room, while two more linger on the outside patio. ∫ “Anything outside are just strays, but I feed them,” Hart said, laughing. “I tell you, I love cats.” ∫ Before the conversation darted to stray cats, it centered on Signal Morning, the sophomore album from one of Hart’s other loves, Circulatory System. But just as the discussion heads back to details about the new release, Hart is off talking about four-tracks. ∫ Then tube amps. ∫ Then the power of Twitter. ∫ And then it starts to make sense — this is why it took eight years. p ATHENS BLUR MAGAZINE

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Athens is an odd place when it comes to bands – they appear to break up and disappear, but they’re never too far away. Bands form, disband, reunite then dissolve, only to return at some later date, playing a 40 Watt gig on a sleepy Thursday night. It’s like they have nine lives or something. So when news came a second Circulatory System album was actually on its way, nearly eight years after the first, the musical collective didn’t think, “Hey, that’s weird.” They just thought “Hey, that’s Athens.” Signal Morning is a 17-track psychedelic gem gleaned from tapes and tapes of layered guitars, radio fuzz, electronic parts and a collaboration of musicians who’ve been working with one another for more than a decade. Joining Hart on the latest ensemble effort are the usual suspects — John Fernandes, Derek Almstead, Suzanne Allison, Peter Erchick, Nesey Gallons, Charlie Johnston and Heather McIntosh — with assists from Bill Doss (Hart’s songwriting partner from The Olivia Tremor Control) and Jeff Mangum and Julian Koster of Neutral Milk Hotel. The end result — a sweeping collection stirring intense discussion and excitement — would have never happened if not for the editing ears of two bandmates. “There were so many different versions and it was so hard to decide which to use,” said Fernandes, one of the band’s founders with Hart. “We had some friends step in. Charlie (Johnston) who plays in 63 Crayons and Nesey Gallons, who plays with Music Tapes, and both play with us now, were the third party that entered the picture to give us fresh ears and say ‘Let’s use this one, this one and this one’ and started piecing it together.” “We were scattered over seven different studios using different production techniques and we couldn’t get satisfied,” Hart said. “I literally had CD cases full of different mixes and parts and I just handed them over to Nesey. It was just too much. There’s one song called ‘Blasting Through’ and it could be half a side or a whole side the way I was doing it. So I told Nesey, ‘Try to do a pop song, make it a pop song’ — and he did! He went all in. The songs became more concise.” “Overjoyed,” the album’s initial single, is evidence of this — coming in at a compact two and a half minutes, it bulges with sound like an overstuffed suitcase. From its layered cello start to its grinding drum center and electronic dirge of an ending (is that an airplane? A backhoe?

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one group saying I hope it’s this, or I hope it’s that.” Set for release on Cloud Recordings (the label founded by Fernandes and Hart), a CD and digital download version, as well as 1,500 vinyl pressings (featuring cover artwork from Hart) await an avid crowd. Fernandes was quick to point out the leaked version was nowhere near the final one, as changes were made to the master before it was done. “I think a lot of people are really weird about quality these days, they still want it to sound like it’s supposed to sound,” Hart said. “They’re really into that.”

Fran Drescher?), “Overjoyed” reveals a group of musicians braced to burst with anticipation. Of course, as is the way in our digital world, the Internet beat them to it. An early version of the album leaked, bringing with it platitudes, wonderment and dueling discussions over lyrics and song titles. “The fact that it leaked is a shame,” Fernandes said. “But maybe it helps. I remember seeing it was the most popular download from this one BitTorrent site — it was Eminem, then Circulatory System — so there’s going to be people

that see others downloading us and maybe listening to us who might not have listened to us before. It’s kind of exciting people are so interested.” “I hope it helps us in the long run,” Hart said. “It’s crazy watching the Internet grow. There was a mistake on the Internet for the name of one of the songs, but the new name was kind of mysterious too, so we went along with it. One group of people thought it was “News From The Heavenly Loom” and another thought it was “New From The Heavenly Loom” (it’s news), and people were debating online,

To understand where Hart and his Elephant Six Collective bandmates stand now is to understand where they were a decade ago. And quite the decade it’s been. Circulatory System was an offshoot formed in 2000 following the breakup of The Olivia Tremor Control, a seminal band of grand experimentation and one of the original E6 projects. While Hart and most of OTC went one way, Doss and Eric Harris went on to Sunshine Fix. Hart’s new band grabbed on lightning quick, as its self-titled release in 2001 found an assembly of admirers and left critics in crushes. Pitchfork, the lauded (and sometimes loathed) web site, named Circulatory System the fifth-best album of 2001, remarking the work by Hart and crew resulted “in an album every bit as sincere as it is profound.” The band followed with a good bit of touring and added Inside Views, a cut and paste remix of the debut album. While touring with Sea and Cake in 2003, the murmurs of putting out the sophomore effort surfaced, only to be stymied by busy schedules and indecision. “We had been amassing a lot of tapes

over many years, we’ve been playing some of the songs on the new record since the tours right after our first record since 2001,” Fernandes said. “During the tour opening for Sea and Cake the songs were sounding really good. We thought ‘OK, when we get home we’re going to finish recording these songs and it’s going to be out.’ But then we kept doing different versions and going to a bunch of different studios.” “It had become disjointed and more extreme and stupid in my mind and shit that didn’t make any sense,” Hart said. The rest of the band members, as Athens musicians are apt to do, spread out to their many side projects. Fernandes recorded and played with New Sound of Numbers and Elf Power; Erchick toured and recorded with Pipes You See, Pipes You Don’t and The Instruments; Almstead and Allison joined in The 63 Crayons (with Johnston), but also recorded with Marshmallow Coast and Casper and the Cookies, respectively; and McIntosh played with a host of bands, including Elf Power, The Instruments, New Sound of Numbers and Japancakes, and more recently toured with Lil Wayne. As Hart struggled to make sense of the many tracks floating in his mind, he was struggling with his body as well. Slowly unable to see out of his right eye, he went to the doctor and after several tests discovered he had multiple sclerosis. After years of wondering what was going on, Hart had a diagnosis and a daily shot routine that helped him not feel worse. And with that, Circulatory System’s return found fewer pit stops and muchneeded momentum.

In June, Circulatory System took to the small outdoor stage at Athens’ Farm 255 and played a handful of new tunes to an appreciative audience, some of whom

travelled from several states away to be there. It proved a watershed moment for the band. “The energy in the live show feels like we got a really good dynamic,” Fernandes said. “When we played the Farm, there’s an amazing part where Will’s sitting and playing but he’s getting so into it and excited he starts to stand up, like he’s saying ‘I’m ready to stand up and rock,’ but then forgets he doesn’t have his strap on, so he kinda rocks for a second, then sits back down.” “I’ve decided to stand up and play rather than just sit around,” Hart said. “I want to be able to project well because it’s more engaging.” With 35 solid tracks culled from the various sessions for Signal Morning, Hart and Fernandes can see a quick turnaround for a third Circulatory System album. But let’s not get too far ahead  — first a fall tour awaits, followed by the slow release of a track here and there for those who do buy the album. After all, all things come in due time, even if that time lasts the length of two presidential terms (or 48 cat years, as it were). “I was worried that for people who have been waiting a long time, whether the album was going to live up to their expectations,” Fernandes said. “But everything I’ve read so far was what we were hoping people would say. Will is not only an amazing songwriter but an amazing sound sculpter and the placement of sounds is essential.” “I’m ready to sing and not get all prancy and say ‘I can’t hear myself in the monitors’ and all that dumb shit I did over the years,” Hart said. “I’ve gotten to the point where I’m excited to play, and I don’t want to be like that. I mean, who cares.” “It’s something that comes with age, I guess,” Hart continued. “I had a birthday the other day, and I can’t remember if it was 37 or 38. But really, does it matter (laughs)?”

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life speed of tweet at the

by natalie david

The latest social media outlet is changing the music industry, for better or for worse

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witter. Love it or hate it, the newly emerged social networking site has a stranglehold on current popular culture. From celebrities and musicians to news stations and politicians, the entire world, for better or worse, seems to be atwitter. For Amanda Palmer, it’s almost a way of life.  Palmer, solo artist and half of punk cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls, draws few lines between herself and her art, her life and her public persona, blogging and Twittering everything from love notes to her boyfriend (fantasy writer Neil Gaiman), to chronicles of her hectic life and free passes to her shows, all with an unprecedented level of intimacy and immediacy.   “There’s something incredibly special about the fact that Twitter is so immediate,” says Palmer, who interacts with over 42,000 followers on the site. “People know that I am listening to them right now and responding to them right now, in the moment.” For fans, Twitter functions as more than a connection to their favorite artists, it’s also a peek behind the curtain at the Wizard of Oz. It has the capacity to show artists, musicians, filmmakers and celebrities at their most candid, yet in an unobtrusive way.   “Twitter is like never-ending liner notes

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and backstage passes,” says social media expert Chris Brogan. Brogan, a friendly, funny social media rockstar and president of New Marketing Labs, has made a name for himself over the past decade as a social media veteran and blogger, in addition to co-penning Trust Agents, a guide for creating a solid Internet rep via social media. He continues, “I believe bands are finding success by showing who they are behind the music.” Unlike other social networking sites, like MySpace and Facebook, which can be mostly static profiles maintained with minimal effort, Twitter is constant, a never-ending stream of information, random thoughts, asinine ideas, inspirational quotes, informed commentary and personal insights, all in short, 140-character packages. Messages, or “tweets,” are then shared with the person’s followers and compiled in the overall timeline of Twitter users. In conjunction with services like Twitpic and Yfrog, users can even share photos with the world just moments after the images were captured. Essentially, Twitter is an endless live blog and, in the words of the service, it is “what you make of it.” Publicly launched in August of 2006, Twitter didn’t catch on like wildfire until earlier this year. Although technically still in

its research phase (read: it makes no money), very public use of the service by celebrity moguls like Ashton Kutcher goaded millions to sign up for the service in an effort to become connected with the celebrity elite.   “Twitter helps cut through the clutter,” says Brogan, appropriately via email, on why Twitter has become so successful, in particular with the music and entertainment industry. “MySpace is great in that it has a built-in player and all kinds of other features, but Twitter is just a message out, and responses back. It’s simple. That means you can connect more intimately and with a better response rate. There are too many distractions on other social sites.” With its streamlined approach, Twitter is simultaneously an information, marketing and public relations vessel and the site is putting bands in the public eye more than ever before. Band members once too busy to scribe hundred-plus-word weekly blog posts or tour diaries are now checking in daily, straight from their cell phones with short messages to fans, even responding to and “retweeting” their messages, and then can quickly be back on their way.    More importantly, though, Twitter has allowed artists like Palmer to run their

“When I was a teenager I would have loved if I could just write Kurt Cobain a message, says Sune Rose Wagner of Danish Duo The Raveonettes. photo: camilla stephen

careers with a greater degree of independence through connecting with their fan bases in real time. The appeal to fans is obvious. Less apparent is the benefit for the artist. With the ability to connect to any number of fans at any given time, artists can often look to their fans for a lifeline. “It’s not just this constant emotional Q&A with my fans and an information feed for my fans, but they’re helping me out. They’re helping me the fuck out, all the time, and in very practical ways,” explains Palmer, who’s fans have come to the rescue with rides from the airport, keyboard loans for shows, even keeping an eye on her luggage.  Last-minute impromptu shows and fan get-togethers, often dubbed “Tweet Ups,” have also become a part of Palmer’s repertoire, an activity that previously would have taken months of planning and a small army to get the word out.   “This is, literally, like I can run my life independently from a phone,” says Palmer, on the line from the storied Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass., “and I definitely still have managers and agents and lawyers and they definitely still do work, but now they’re available to do a different kind of work while I fly at the speed of light directly connecting

with the fans.”   Palmer has even used the site to virtually hang out with her fans, most famously in sessions dubbed “LOFNOTC” (That’s “Losers of Friday Night on Their Computers” for the uninitiated), a series of spur-of-themoment, Friday night conversations that have built a greater sense of camaraderie between Palmer and her fan base, with Gaiman and cellist and collaborator Zoë Keating even joining in the Twitter fest. Beyond granting fans unprecedented virtual access to bands, and vice versa, Twitter can also be used to include fans in the creative process. This past June, Danish duo The Raveonettes used the service to post links to full-length demos of tunes from their upcoming fourth LP, In and Out of Control, and encouraged fans to respond and voice their opinions of the tracks.   Sune Rose Wagner, the shaggy-headed, savant spearhead of the surf-y rock duo, says it wasn’t a cry for help as some had misconstrued the exercise, but just a way to get fans talking about the group’s music and give them a sneak peak of what was to come. “When I was a teenager and I was a huge fan of Nirvana, for instance, I would have

loved if I could just write Kurt Cobain a message, or if he would post pictures of them being in the studio, or post cool demo versions of his songs,” says Wagner. “I would have absolutely died if he had done that. It would have been so amazing!”   “So that’s why I do it, just to get people to feel that they’re a part of something,” says Wagner. “I wish that my favorite bands would have done the same. I would have been so happy, you know?”   Another lesser seen use for Twitter is that artists are now able to more easily connect with each other, without having to jump through the hoops, firewalls, bells and whistles that have always been in place to keep them protected. It opens up opportunities for artists to reach out to others that they would like to work with, or just drop a line of admiration. “It’s just easier to meet up with people. It’s easier to collaborate, it’s easier to just kind of give the cosmic high five to people that you love,” says Palmer. “And it’s a great feeling.” But not all artists share Palmer’s enthusiasm for Twitter. The emergence of fake celebrity Twitter accounts (real celebs now have accounts designated as “Verified”) scared away acts like Kanye West, and a famous

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there’s something incredibly special about the fact that Twitter is so immediate, says Amanda Palmer, solo artist and one half of punk-cabaret duo Dresden Dolls. Twitter battle with Chris Cornell alongside comments from angry fans led Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor to publicly delete his account. Other bands have Twitter accounts set up as mere publicity feeds, run by publicists or their record labels, in order to spread information about upcoming concerts and album releases. And, of course, there are bands who abstain from the service all together.  Still more see it as a negative influence on the institution of rock 'n' roll. There’s no arguing that the mystique that spread intrigue and interest in the music, its makers and its mythos throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s is fast becoming a thing of the past, but Twitter, to some, is little more than a blue feathered, yellow-beaked Grim Reaper. Although he admits that social networking can be an asset for bands, the EELS’s Mark Everett (aka E) dismisses Twitter as merely “empty calories” in comparison to penning an autobiographical tome, and even goes so far as to claim that the service ruins the alluring appeal of music.  “It’s this kind of thing that’s killing music,” says E, who tried the service for a few weeks at the request of his label, Vagrant Records, before abandoning it all together in

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photo: martyn foster

deference to his band’s official website. “Do we really need to know what the singer had for breakfast and what happened when he went to the bathroom this morning? I think it’s undignified.”   But there is some argument to how successful retaining the so-called mystique of rock 'n' roll even is in an age where information abounds about anyone, whether they want it out there or not. And withholding information, in some instances, can even be a detriment to a band when keeping fans happy often correlates to constantly giving them something new to hold their attention. “I think people crave it, actually. And I think they demand it a lot of times,” says Wagner on the fans’ appetite for social media interaction. “There are so many bands out there and it’s very easy to access any band in the world by clicking a few times, so I think it’s something that you have to do. It’s very, very necessary.” For Palmer, putting herself out there as much as possible on an emotional and personal level was part of her reasoning for going into music in the first place. “I wanted to expose myself in the most human and positive of ways, and I felt like I looked at certain artists who were literally

putting it all out there, emotionally, and I wanted to emulate them,” says Palmer, citing '80s superstars Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Prince and The Cure as “people who were certainly not afraid to be completely themselves. Total freaks.” “They were creating their own worlds, and those had nothing to do with the myth of rock 'n' roll and how exposed you were and how much you talked about and how much you didn’t,” continues Palmer. “And the whole fucking beauty of rock 'n'- roll is that you get to make up all this shit as you’re going along! Nobody can tell you how to do it. That’s the idea. That’s why it’s awesome.” Breaking the rules and discovering new paths has also never been easier. As the old ways (major labels, physical sales) continually capitulate into new ways (indies, downloads) bands are benefiting from innovation more and more often, especially by connecting directly with fans. “If you’re a band and you’re not visiting your fans’ pages to talk with them and not just spam about your band, you’re blowing the opportunity,” adds Brogan. “There’s some real opportunity here, but it requires that you act human.” Even though Wagner and his band mate,

Sharin Foo, choose to use Twitter more for band related missives than the free spirited Palmer, he says they are still available to fans, even hooking them up with mp3s of hard-tofind demos when asked. But for both Wagner and Palmer, connecting with fans is less of a job requirement and more of an enjoyable experience. Twitter just makes it easier. “I got into making art because I love interacting with people, so for me this is like a kid in a candy store,” Palmer laughs. “For others who are less outgoing or less exhibitionistic, it’s a tool, and it’s a great tool to simply spread information in a day and age where the spread of information is basically synonymous with how you’re making your living.” And Twitter has certainly helped to keep Palmer’s punk cabaret force going. During the initial LOFNOTC meeting, Palmer designed a commemorative t-shirt for the virtual flash mob, using paper and a sharpie. Almost instantly, her go-to web guy had put up a website where the shirt could be purchased. The result? In two hours Palmer made $11,000 profit, more than she had earned from her 2008 Ben Folds-produced solo debut. A webcast auction conducted through Twitter several days later also netted Palmer an additional $6,000. Although these sales could be written off as some creepy grasp at buying a connection with a celebrity, Palmer insists that her efforts are genuine. She’s been developing a relationship with her fans, sleeping on their floors, meeting them at shows and conversing with them on message boards since she began touring with The Dresden Dolls in 2000. “We trusted everybody because if they liked our music, they were good people,” says Palmer. “And I’ve kept with that philosophy the entire time.” “It’s not like all of a sudden, because there’s Twitter, out of the blue I trust my fan base and they trust me. It’s been building for years and years,” says Palmer, who cautions newer bands that it takes more than just using Twitter to create a loyal fan base. Although it can help, the word of mouth it fosters is only as reliable as the product behind it. “Some might look at the model and say, ‘Oh! My God! If I start a Twitter account, my fans will just start showing up in every city and people will offer us a place to stay!’ It probably won’t work,” explains Palmer. “You need to actually build the fan base first.” As for the naysayers, those wishing to keep a sense of mystique in rock 'n' roll, there’s one simple solution: step away from the computer. “If you want to read personal stuff, read it,” says Wagner. “If you don’t like people being brutally honest and being personal, don’t read it.”  That is, if you can escape the stranglehold.  B

Follow Flurry Blur-approved artists get their Tweet on:  

Amanda Palmer: @amandapalmer Notable Tweet: “I know its 522 in the morning here in london but does anyone know where at heathrow I can buy big fire-roasting marshmallows? Important....”  

The Raveonettes - @theraveonettes

Notable Tweet: “sune in hawaii celebrating his birthday. hopefully no bad wipeouts. we're also working on single cover. hush hush (last dance) hushhhhh.”  

EELS - @THE_EELS

Notable Tweet: “This shit is retarded.”  

Ingrid Michaelson - @ingridmusic Notable Tweet: “when i was young, every male singer wanted to sound like eddie vedder. now they want to sound like they are pushing a car up a hill.”

  These United States - @theseunited

Notable Tweet: “can't remember where I heard this... “War is weak - it cannot destroy everything.” ????? Remind me - or, you know, just Respond...”  

Blitzen Trapper - @BlitzenTrapper

Notable Tweet: “OK, guess it's more “hugs & high fives & arm waving” than actual collaboration but hey, that counts in our book.”  

The Delfields - @TheDelfields

Notable Tweet: “Just because you think you're attractive doesn't mean you can steal my seat.”

  Ben Kweller - @benkweller

Notable Tweet: “Tryin to be healthy ya know? I've had 2 airport salads today and they both had long black hairs in them. Why does that happen?”  

fun. - @ournameisfun

Notable Tweet: “Question... What movie would you NEVER see but you know your significant other is gonna drag you to? Me= time travelers wife. Dreading it.”  

Mindy Smith - @mindysmithmusic

Notable Tweet: “i can't believe Al Franken is a senator elec...wow! interstinng. maybe Ellen DeGeneres can be one too, she is way funnier!!”  

Sister Hazel @SisterHazelBand

Notable Tweet: “Just finished writing an awesome song. I think I'll eat a sandwich.”

Asher Roth @asherroth Notable Tweet: “Remember in elementary school when the nurse use to do the head lice check and it felt all good... what's good with a head massage?”

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One of the constant charms of this music town — of any good music town — is the notion that nothing is, well...constant. Venues of two decades ago are long gone, foreshadowing the fate of those that stand today. As many have done before, and others will do in the future, four clubs lead the way into another changing face of music spots in Athens...

venue ventures by Alec Wooden Photos by Justin Evans

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Adrian Zelski went to bed happy that night. And why not? It was Thursday, June 18, and he’d just completed an unofficial gentleman’s agreement with Blur Club owner Mark Bell to convert the Dougherty Street space into a full scale music venue. It was just what he’d long wanted — already boasting his own production company and successful band, Dubconscious, Zelski now had the structure of a good partnership to further his vision of the future in Athens music. Yep, life was pretty good. 12 hours later, tragedy struck the town he has called home for almost two decades.

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Athens Blur Magazine: I think a lot of people assume New Earth opening is a direct reaction to the Georgia Theatre fire. True story? Adrian Zelski: That’s a really weird story, very interesting.  I have a production company, Harmonic Productions, and we were putting on shows with DJs from the West coast and there was no where to really put them in Athens. So Drew, the bar manager [at Blur Bar, now New Earth], basically offered this space. I met Mark Bell, the owner of the place, and we just lightly conversed about it, but nothing serious happened. On the night before the Georgia Theatre burned down, Mark called and said 'I would like to talk to you about the club.'  We got the official offer the night before the Theatre burned down.  As the days passed [after the fire], I started to think 'this is obviously needed.' I called the guys at the Georgia Theatre and let them know, 'hey, I think I am going to buy this club and I don’t want it to seem crazy or too opportunistic.' I wanted it to seem like a positive healthy thing that we would be working on together.    ABM: Why “New Earth?” AZ: It has an interesting tie-in to Eckhart Tolle's philosophy. He wrote a book called “A New Earth” that basically talks about how in the future the world will not be guided by greed and anger and possessive and dominant, male dominance culture and all these things like that. I thought it was a great idea for a club to expound the ideas of inclusiveness, positivity, nice people helping nice people. There’s something about being worldly and having world music, having international DJs coming down and quality bands that we enjoy. So that’s really cool — and it has a connotation of change, and I like that.   ABM: The past two incarnations of this room have been largely known for housing GLBT shows. Do you have plans to continue that? AZ: Absolutely. We want to be unique and very open-minded..  We are going to continue to have the gay/lesbian community do their shows here and continue to have counter-culture events.    ABM: How has your perspective as a touring musician helped you carve out an idea for how the club should function? AZ: I hate a club that doesn’t have good stuff (laughs).  If it was me, I would want to play on New Earth partners (L to R) Matthew Woolley, Drew Meyer and Adrian Zelski take a break from construction. Photo: Justin Evans

a quality system. I want a really good monitor board, a really good soundboard.  It’s crucial.  I would love every club to have a personality trait — we want the band to drive away and say, 'Wow, they did a great job with promotion, hospitality, good job on production, advancing, good hotel hook-up, had a person ready to load us in.'  I want all that. It’s not cool if you spend six hours to get to a venue and there are grumpy people not taking care of you.    ABM:  What’s been the toughest part? AZ:  First and foremost its investment capital, working the details out, seeing who’s going to get what, who’s going to pay for what.  Another thing is trying to make sure that this whole idea is right — not stepping on anybody's toes, not offending anyone, and figuring out how to enter the political game of music without being bad.  That might be an advantage, though — I know the politics.  I know the demographic of most places.    ABM: What's going to be your goal when you come to work here everyday? AZ: If a band plays here, I want them to put on an event.  I want it to be a unique experience, not just a date filler. We just want to see everybody really getting along and trying to build Athens into a one-of-a-kind music scene. The Southeast can really establish a support system for a band. It’s a great place to tour and have fun but if you actually look at the demographics of the Southeast, we should have much more of an industry.  I think Athens is a nucleus of many ideas — there should be more booking agencies, there should be better management companies and team players should stand-out. I want the music scene to thrive, all band’s to have a home, to be in a place that they are proud of.  I love Athens.  But when I come here I have to do all this myself — promote [Dubconscious], publicize us, and do everything.  You play in Chicago, San Francisco or New York, you do one show of over 200 people you will have 20 people trying to work for you. I would love to have that here. Every town has its flaws, but Athens has its beautiful niche of being a small town.  I would love this to be a nucleus for all the stuff I love and support fully.   That’s an ultimate goal, kinda lofty.  I am a big dreamer — I am a musician (laughs). 

new earth music hall located 227 W. Dougherty St. formerly Detour, Blur capacity 500 opened August 28 age restrictions show dependent type of shows any and all, though many nights will focus on DJ’s and world music

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It doesn’t take many trips down the streets of Athens to figure out the unspoken demarcation line of the downtown blocks. As the stigma goes, west of Lumpkin Street is packed with “townie” art and music lovers, while the geographical counterpart is slammed with nothing more than college hooligans looking for cheap thrills and cheap booze. Murphy Wolford doesn’t buy that the two need be separate — together with consultant (and future business partner) Paul DeGeorge, and armed with a boatload of upgrades and changes, his staple music venue tries to bridge the gap. Athens Blur Magazine: Of course, we can't help but notice the addition to the name — talk about the importance of “Uptown.” Murphy Wolford: When we were students the hipsters would call downtown “Uptown.”  With the way things have transitioned over the years, we're kinda alone over here doing live music. So we want to re-energize the students about music and capture the clientele available to us on this side of town.  Uptown is part of that. ABM: Speaking of energize…what has kept you motivated in this scene for over a decade? MW: Music.  Nothing gets me motivated, nothing turns me on more than hearing new bands that blow me away. You get in the everyday dull of the business, then a band gets on the stage and reminds you what it's all about. ABM: Paul, what is it that attracted you to Athens? You've had other successful bars (Pauley's, The Loft), but why now are you trying your hand in the music scene? Paul DeGeorge: I was involved in the film industry [in South Florida] — I own my own studio down there. Myself and three other artists opened our arms to any local artists or musicians, dance groups or theatre groups that had a good idea but did not have the space or the money to rent a space or do something like that.  So we were sort of a driving force in South Florida of that independent scene and that’s part of my heart and I truly love that.  But I was getting burnt out, so I came to Athens more for a business change. The idea was to create a couple businesses that would create a good financial foundation to do more of the creative things I wanted to do. Murphy and I [sat] down and realized our passions were along the same lines and how much potential is here to recapture and rekindle and revitalize Athens in our minds.

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ABM: In terms of taking in a show upstairs, what was the most necessary change for the room? PDG:  Raising the stage and making it larger wasn’t really necessary, but it was low and it needed a professional appearance — making it high enough so that everyone has a good view.  No matter where you are in this room now, everyone has a good view.  Prior, if you were 1015 feet back you would not be able to see much. Murphy Wolford and Paul DeGeorge pose for a shot in the newly constructed backstage at Tasty World Uptown. Photo: Justin Evans

ABM: And from a tech standpoint? Is there an actual system upgrade? PDG: We have upgraded substantially to the best of everything that was in the building when we had two stages.  This room acoustically, just raw, sounds great and that was the purpose of moving to the live rock 'n' roll.  We had a sound travel problem and now [by soundproofing between floors] it's cut by 80 percent so you can have a rock band up here and a jazz band downstairs and never know the difference.  Also, the [new, uninstalled at press time] lighting will play a huge role and it looks like a professional concert, obviously smaller but it’s a great space. ABM: Let’s not discount the past 12 years, but  let’s view this as a fresh start. Why is this room going to be successful, particulary as a brand alongside the new downstairs in Magnolias?  MW: Athens is all about youth and the wonderment that comes with it — and the mystique and the Athens community has been created by the engagement by the youth with music and art.  So, the mission with the free flow [of the building] and providing tons of free shows for the students downstairs [in the] beautiful southern setting with jazz and acoustic — something that they would enjoy  walking off the street. That will get them interested and engaged in music and  that will cause success up here and more success with independent music.   ABM: You mentioned a free flow between up and downstairs — will Magnolias and Tasty World brand each other naturally? PDG: With the free flow of the venue providing a consistent and reliable  kind of music that they want to hear, we have created a solid foundation. As far as the direction, I think it will be dictated by the students and the music and what bands we can get to perform.  We are looking forward to that and this will take a direction and be unique to this town.  Murphy has been fighting with this separation of uptown and downtown and the townie side and the college side, and it is a little difficult in that sense, but I really think it is something that has amazing potential.   It's our job to find the best music and try to engage students.  You want to introduce students to new music but at the same time you want to cater to their desires.  This industry is tough but there is a strong foundation set up here and it will take us some time but I think something will happen.

tasty world uptown located 312 E. Broad St. formerly Tasty World capacity approx. 171 upstairs, 193 downstairs (magnolias) (re)opened AthFest 2009 age restrictions 18+ or 21+, event-dependent type of shows wide open booking upstairs, jazz and acoustic acts downstairs ATHENS BLUR MAGAZINE

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hotel indigo’s rialto room

Bruce Burch knows a thing or two about songwriting. Hailing from the mecca of all things songwriter — Nashville, Tenn. — Burch has penned an impressive slate of hit tunes in his career and immersed himself in the ultimate of songwriting environments. Now that Burch once again calls Athens home, it’s no surprise to see his support thrown behind a new club with his favorite past-time in mind and aimed at cultivating the already rich singer-songwriter scene. ABM: What separates The Rialto Room apart from other clubs in town? Bruce Burch:  It’s a whole different ballgame - a true listening room experience. A room where people come to actually hear the music.    ABM: Why does Athens need that kind of room? BB:   I love all of the other rooms in town. Georgia Theatre had a different vibe, 40 Watt has a different vibe from Caledonia from Melting Point and Tasty World, you know? All of them have great, different vibes. I just think there isn't one like this. I think it appeals to a slightly older audience, but also think its good for young people to come to a room like that, especially when they may have never experienced it.    ABM:  Athens certainly has no lack of singers and songwriters — so why has it taken so long for a room like this to pop up? BB:  It's just an idea whose time has come. It’s an evolution and the timing is right.  I think people now are wanting that more intimate experience with music.  I think a lot of people are burned out — not that there is anything wrong with a big show down in Atlanta, but I think there is a craving for that intimate experience more so now. Not only has it gotten so expensive to go to a show, but all the pyrotechnics and everything, it's gotten so overblown that people long for that intimate experience.    ABM:  A different sort of room makes for different booking challenges, I imagine. What are the plans for booking Rialto? Can we expect to see local artists, regional artists and national artist on the same stage? BB:  I think we are going to try to do a little bit of everything there.  I’m more excited for the local aspect of it because it will be a place for songwriters, it will be real songwriter oriented.  I think it's sometimes hard to find a venue that makes itself available to that.  I've seen how Eddie's Attic (Decatur, Ga.) and The BlueBird Cafe (Nashville, Tenn.) have done it and how people get their starts there.  Look at all the people that have come out of Eddie’s Attic,  all the artists they have started there. [Eddie's] has a real friendly atmosphere, and that’s what I hopefully envision this being: a

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Assistant Club Manager Emmy Bateman (seated) and Club Manager Amy Hibler (standing) pose in The Rialto Room. Photo: Justin Evans

real supporting atmosphere for musicians.   ABM:  As a songwriter yourself, I know you're excited for the musicians. But as a teacher (UGA's Music Business Program), this is another great teaching tool, right? BB:  The students are going to get very involved now that they're back, and we can try some things out in there that we wouldn’t have been able to try in any other room. We'll have professionals operating the lights and sound but our students will be sitting right there with them and hopefully as time goes on we will be able to move right in there and help with that part of it.  And ya know, promoting a room — to be able to [get experience like that] is incredible.  It’s a room that’s going to be used, it's not a total music room: [it will have] weddings and other events, corporate events. It's sort of a unique room and I don’t think it competes with any of the other rooms [in town]. We are going to keep students working in all rooms because every one is different. The more venues the students can work in, the better off they will be.  No matter what part of the business you get in, you’re going to work with different venues, and every one has their own personality.    ABM:  Coupled with The Hotel Indigo,why will the 'music tourism' premise work here? BB:  [The Rialto] is gonna be a place where the people who, when they're in college might go to Bonnaroo or any festival, as they get older — when they get to be, say, 35 — I’m not so sure they’ll want to go to Bonnaroo.  Their standards may not be to where they want to go to a place like that to have a musical experience.  And I sort of envision them not only having an experience [at Rialto], but they could go to the 40 Watt if they wanted, for example.  It becomes like a way to, instead of just coming here for a football game, thinkof Athens as a music destination town.  Music goes the whole year, and people love to come to Athens any way.  It just seems kind of obvious, but I don’t think any hotel has really thought about that. The whole idea of music tourism is something I saw happening in Nashville, but I never thought of it in Athens. I know people come here, but I don’t think anybody really said 'we are going to be a music destination.' Now we have a chance to become a part of that.

rialto room located 500 college ave. formerly vacant capacity 125-250 opened labor day weekend age restrictions event-dependent type of shows showcases and singer/songwriter shows

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The story has popped up as a pretty common one: no one answered the first phone call just after 7 a.m. Or the second minutes later. Or the two texts that followed in succession. Wilmot Greene is no exception. When his groggy hands finally picked up the ringer on the morning of the Georgia Theatre fire, it started a whirlwind emotional train that’s been grueling and, for better or worse, quite public. 77 days later, what’s been sorted out? So much...and so little. Athens Blur Magazine: Some people don't understand why it's necessary to "raise money" for something like this — they assume it's like a house burning down, where the insurance company fills your claim and you start over. Why is this such a different situation? Wilmot Greene: Good question, and the house analogy fits pretty well. Imagine if you had insurance for what your house cost, but when you went to build it back you were required by law to add an elevator, triple the number of bathrooms, make the whole thing accessible for disabled persons, reinforce the exterior with steel, etc. — but it had to look exactly the same from outside. This gets even more complicated if you still owed the bank for your house. In this situation, you have to use the insurance money to pay the bank and then get a construction loan to build the new house. The new house will still serve the same purpose, but your new payment will be triple what it used to be. ABM: On that note, I'm also not sure that a lot of people understand why it was necessary for you to achieve non-profit status. WG: The non-profit we are partnered with will put all the funds raised in a special account. Then as invoices come in from contractors, the trust will pay those bills. This adds accountability to the process so there is no doubt that the money is going directly to rehabilitating the building. We will still have to borrow a great deal of money to buy everything that goes inside the building. The trust is for saving the building, not the business.

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ABM: Is it frustrating to hear all the speculation about the future? WG: No. I'm used to wild speculation. In the music business people are always "absolutely certain" of the wildest rumors. It's actually funny to me. I think the music business is a really un-understood businesses. After the fire I heard rumors that were absolutely ridiculous. People get very emotional about their music, clubs and bands. This is the double-edge sword of the business; it's great because people are passionate about it, but that passion is easily misguided and based on speculation. ABM: Care to share some of your favorite highlights from the new blueprints? Wilmot Greene sits inside the still-rubbled Georgia Theatre. Photo: Justin Evans

WG: We have been working on drawings/concepts with the Davis Group (www.dadot.com) for about five weeks now. The idea is to make it feel as familiar as possible while incorporating all the elements that we have to add. The elevator takes up a lot of space and the staircases do also. We are stilll moving stuff around in our heads, but as of now we plan on putting all the bathrooms in the basement and a smoking area/patio on the roof. Those are two exciting changes. ABM: Okay, dumb question — money aside, what's going to be the toughest part? WG: The design itself is really challenging right now. I bet every part of this process will be tough until we open. Then I'm sure we will be faced with new challenges and obstacles — such is life. ABM: New Years Eve, 2010. Grand re-opening of the Theatre. What's your perfect musical bill? WG: Wow, it would be cool to have the Glands. They haven't played in years, but that would be so fitting and great. MGMT or Ghostland Observatory or Phoenix would be a great dance party vibe to kick things off with. But some good old fashioned rock 'n' roll would be nice too, like the [Drive-By] Truckers and Bloodkin. I'm still really into The New Mastersounds, they have guitars and it's dance music too, so that might be a good fit. Geez, who knows? ABM: What's the one thing, one relic, that you'll take out (or have taken out) of the ashes and keep as your "never forget" memento? WG: It's funny you ask this question, because I was just talking about this last night. I never got my picture taken with any bands, or collected backstage passes or anything like that. I've never asked for an autograph in my life. What I want is for that building to come back to life and be there and be current and relevant for the next 100 years. I'm not trying to sound like a martyr or anything, but I don't care what happens to me or what I get to keep. I fucking love the Georgia Theatre and I have got to save it. I'll probably never have kids or pets or any normal social life because I am married to that building, and it is sick and I will do anything to nurse her back to health. So my keepsake will be the grin on my face when we accomplish this rebuilding effort and start filling those walls with music again.

georgia theatre located 215 n. lumpkin st. formerly georgia theatre capacity TBD opening new year’s eve 2010 age restrictions 18+ type of shows wide-open booking

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gear guide

musici

CO an RNER ’

s

Aguilar Octamizer Following the success of last year’s Tone Hammer preamp/DI, Aguilar Amplification is continuing their foray into the world of bass effects with the Octamizer analog octave pedal. The Octamizer is designed to give bass players access to a wide range of octave-based sounds with a simple user interface. Featuring a four-knob layout, the Octamizer has independent volume controls for the clean and octave sounds so you can dial in the desired amount of each. The “Clean Tone” control uses a Full Spectrum Tilt EQ, allowing for the boosting of treble while cutting bass or boosting of bass while cutting treble.  This unique circuit allows you to create a clean sound that creates an octave doubling effect or to blend the sounds together for a great thick, snarky synth tone. The Octamizer’s “Octave Filter” control is a multi-pole low-pass Filter that lets you shape the octave sound from smooth and deep to edgy and aggressive.

Eastwood Airline® Town & Country ’59 Custom DLX

East wood Guitars adds a new model to their popular Airline ’59 Custom Series, the Town & Country ’59 Custom DLX. This retro-beauty will be making heads turn in concert halls and bars around the world. The Airline Town & Country ’59 Custom guitar features a unique black rubber binding surrounding the entire Vintage Cream body, which replicates the aesthetics of the original Airline Res-O-Glas guitars. The cosmetic details include a retro-striped pickguard and control guard with vintage style chrome hardware and comes with a BIGSBY licensed tremolo. This 25 ½” scale guitar is a players’ dream with a fast maple neck, rosewood fingerboard and block markers bolted onto a tone chambered mahogany body. These guitars deliver unlimited tone possibilities with high output Airline Vintage Voiced Single Coil pickups, a 3-way switch, master volume, and individual volume and tone for each pickup. The Airline ’59 Custom guitars ship in the new Vintage Style Deluxe form-fit AIRLINE hardshell case with steel plate logo.

SWR Black Beauty Bass Amp SWR’s aptly named Black Beauty combo bass amp has been revamped with more power and more features to deliver even more tonal muscle and finesse than its popular and acclaimed original incarnation. Now, in 2009, the Black Beauty has been given a complete makeover that makes it even more powerful, with several convenient new professional features. The classic full-range SWR tube preamp with Aural Enhancer™ and Subwave™ effect are still there, as are the three-band active EQ, side-chain effects loop with blend control, and solid-state studio-quality line out. New features include front-panel line out controls, compressor circuit, tuning mute, single rack space for an effects unit of choice, and two-feature footswitch (mute and Subwave on/off ) that also controls an integrated tuner. Standing alone or as the key component in a combo-based rig, the newly redesigned SWR Black Beauty has the power to handle large venues and the tonal sophistication to complement the subtlest touch.

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Sonor Danny Carey Signature 14”x8” Brass Shell Snare Drum Danny Carey, best known has the hugely creative drummer for the iconic band Tool has teamed up with Sonor to create his own signature snare drum. The Danny Carey Signature Snare Drum is constructed of a 1 mm Bronze Shell and comes with Artist Series Snare Drum Style lugs. The 2.3 mm Power Hoops allow the snare to breath open. All hardware comes in chrome finish. With a diameter of 14” and a depth of 8”, it pays homage to the “Vintage” Signature Line Snare Drum that Danny has preferred throughout his career. The shell is covered by unique talisman symbols between the lugs. Also engraved around the air hole is Danny’s signature, giving the signature snare drum his final, personal touch. Upon playing the first prototype, Danny remarked, “The Snare Drum has a powerful, but still versatile sound.” The Danny Carey Signature Snare can be tuned high or low without losing the specific, warm sound of Bronze sound in combination with the fullbodied shell sound. When tuned high, a nice crack is added — tune it low and find yourself immersed in Danny’s sound sphere.

Wechter Nashville Special Elite Cutaway Wechter’s Nashville Special Elite Cutaway acoustic-electric guitar uses special high-strung, or Nashville tuning, which adds a unique tonality to recordings or live performances. Double a standard acoustic guitar part with the Nashville Elite, and you’ve got the kind of spacious, airy sound that no 12-string can touch! Play this comfortable parlorsized guitar in an ensemble, and you’ve got a tone that stands out, while it tastefully complements the other instruments. This beautiful, compact instrument is the first production guitar that’s specifically set up for high-strung, or Nashville tuning. The Nashville Special Elite Cutaway’s bottom four strings are tuned an octave higher than standard pitch, while the top two strings are tuned to standard. The result? Breathtaking, spacious sounds that add dimension to recordings and performances!

GuitarGuard Neverkink Cable Clip

Say goodbye to wrapping your cable around your strap and strap nut, which causes kinks and shortens the life of your cable. Neverkink attaches to your guitar strap and ensures that your cables are securely attached with a good connection to your input. Never loop again with Neverkink!

BOSS GT-10: Guitar Effects Processor

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Meet the new flagship of the BOSS multi-effects family. The GT-10, driven by BOSS’ latest custom-made DSP and proprietary sound-modeling COSM® engine, is a floorboard powerhouse that offers natural and musical response as well as a marked improvement in sound quality from previous generations. It’s also loaded with an innovative user interface, including EZ Tone, so guitarists can obtain the exact sound they desire in the most intuitive way imaginable.

BLUR MUSICIAN’S CONER

musici

CO 13 letters in music business an RNER and don’t over look the last eight of them ’

s

I wish I could claim to have made up this line, but it’s one I quote quite often to my music business students in the University of Georgia Music Business Program: “There are 13 letters in MUSIC BUSINESS and 8 of them are BUSINESS”.  When I began my career as a songwriter back in 1977, there was a distinct divide between the “creative” and “business” sides of the music industry.  Artists, songwriters, musicians and producers were the “rightbrained creators.” Songpluggers, A&R (artists and repertoire) folks, record label heads and, of course, the “necessary evil” attorneys were the “no brain” business people. I’m not sure when the lines between the creative side and the business side started to blur, but it was probably somewhere around the time when multi-platinum albums became as scarce as Milli Vanilli cover bands. As illegal downloading became more prevalent and the boom years for the music industry declined, suddenly bands and artists were not able to afford as much staff and management for jobs that had previously been delegated to the “business gurus.” Many of those duties had to be taken up by the “creative types” themselves. The fact that artists such as Billy Joel, Leonard Cohen, and even the business savvy Trent Reznor of the group Nine Inch Nails had been the victims of theft by their former managers, with losses totaling millions of dollars, made learning the business side almost a necessity in this day and time. And why shouldn’t it be that way?  The tools are out there now and there is no excuse for not understanding a piece of paper (yep, that’s a contract for you remaining “creative types”) you are signing.  What tools you ask? Herb Alpert (one of the great musicians of all time who was smart enough back in the day to know that owning and controlling his own record label and masters made sense and formed A&M Records with Jerry Moss) began a foundation which funds a wonderful website, www.artistshousemusic.org, that is an excellent resource for those wanting to learn the business of music.  There are numerous other websites (www. musformation.com, www.hypebot.com, www.starpolish.com) and many excellent books on the subject (my two favorites

Bruce Burch “I’m not sure when the lines between the creative side and the business side started to blur,but it was probably somewhere around the time when multiplatinum albums became as scarce as Milli Vanilli cover bands. Learning the business side is almost a necessity in this day and time.” being “Everything You Need to Know About the Music Business” by Donald Passman who, by the way, was responsible for the record-breaking “mega” deals for both Janet Jackson and R.E.M., and “Music, Money, and Success” by industry pros and brothers, Todd and Jeff Brabec). So many bands that came out of Athens got their start playing sweat stained, beer soaked fraternity parties and overcrowded barf bars which line Broad and Clayton Streets.  R.E.M. made their debut in an abandoned church and the B52's got their chops playing house parties later recounted in the hit song “Love Shack.” Widespread Panic has carried the banner for Athens in recent years with the DriveBy Truckers, Of Montreal, The Whigs,

and Dead Confederate being recent Athens bands to make their “declaration of independents.”  The DIY method has been adopted in this decade by countryleaning artists like the Zac Brown Band and Corey Smith, who rose from the college scene after getting their start in Athens.  So how does being from a DIY scene support the “music means business” motto which we have adopted as our mantra for the UGA Music Business Program?   Because all of our students are getting not only the classroom setting to learn the intricacies of the music business, but they are also “getting their hands dirty.”  As part of our program each of our students works with a music business — a band, a studio, a PR company, a college radio station,  a music venue or a small indie record company.  We firmly believe that this DIY method of teaching is the most valuable part of our program and one which I highly recommend to anyone wanting to break into the business. The apprenticeship system is alive and well in the music industry. It’s a great time to be a young person in the music business.   Rick Rubin started Def Jam from his dorm room at NYU (along with a lot of help from Russell Simmons), and being in a college town is a great way to get your start.  Your classroom may be the local pub where the latest band to hit campus may be playing.  Who knows, they may be the next Widespread Panic! A 2003 inductee into the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame, Bruce Burch currently resides in Athens as the Director of the University of Georgia's Music Business Program. A former creative director at EMI Publishing and owner/ operator of two publishing companies, Burch found success as a songwriter by penning #1 hits for Reba McEntire, Top 10 singles for Billy Joe Royal & T. Graham Brown, a Top 20 hit for Barbara Mandrell and a Top 40 single for John Anderson, as well as various platinum and gold recordings by George Jones, The Oak Ridge Boys, Collin Raye and Dan Seals.  

Got something to say about this column? We’re all ears at [email protected]. Send your thoughts, along with your name and hometown! ATHENS BLUR MAGAZINE

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THE KING OF THE BLUES

Regional report Birmingham, AL

By Michael Seale

established 1871 population 1,079,089 notable bands The Temptations, Sun Ra, Erskine Hawkinds, Brother Kane, Ver-

bena, Hotel, Lionel Hampton, Remy Zero, EmmyLou Harris, Taylor Hicks, Ruben Studdard, Cleveland Eaton usEless triviA The illuminated dance floor featured in the film “Saturday Night Fever” was inspired by a floor the film’s director, John Badham, had seen at The Club, a private supper club in Birmingham drive from athens 200 miles Something Extra “$5 Cover,” a web and television series featuring real City of Magic, a 16-song compilation featuring Birmingham-area musicians, was released on August 27. The album, a primarily digital release, will be available on iTunes, and a limited number of CD’s will be available through CD Baby and Amazon.com.

FRIDAY

OCTOBER 2 SPECIAL GUEST

Rachael Cantu THE THRILL IS BACK... IN ATHENS

BBKING.COM

BBKINGFANCLUB.NET PRODUCED BY

Ed Atamian Presents

Call, Click or stop by the box office in Downtown Athens www.ClassicCenter.com 706.357.4444

your new favorite band Vulture buzz

the

in birmingham

Whale

Some have called them an “alt-rock band.” Some have said they are “Southern rock.” And others have even referred to them as “roots grunge,” whatever that means. But anyone who leaves a Vulture Whale show can all agree that what they saw was just a good, fun, rock ‘n’ roll band. The band’s front man, Wes McDonald (formerly of Athens-based band, The Ohms), is a born lyricist, and can tell you a story through song better than anyone, with little anecdotes and clever lines reminiscent of Paul Westerberg. McDonald, guitarist Les Nuby (from Verbena), drummer Jake Waitzman and bassist Keelan Parrish have been playing together as Vulture Whale for a couple of years now, but they have played together, off and on and sans one or the other, for over a decade. Vulture Whale released its second album, Vulture Whale, on Skybucket Records earlier this year, and has received rave reviews on a national and international level. Mainstays in the Birmingham music scene, Vulture Whale is one of those bands that, when seen live, leaves the audience thankful that they had a chance to see them up close and personal before they got too big to play small clubs in college towns.

venue profile

the

bottletree

The Bottletree (3719 3rd Ave. S) is a relative newcomer to Birmingham, celebrating its third anniversary in November. It is hip little café by day, with a nice vegetarian menu to go along with one of the best club sandwiches in town, among other treats. The artwork and photography on the wall, from local artists, is for sale, but the retro 70’s and 80’s era relics that also adorn the café are not. Guests can also sit in the corner and play a variety of old board games (Monopoly, Life, Stratego, etc.) or just do some quality people-watching. But at night, the place really comes alive. One the best places to see original live music in the city, the Bottletree has hosted a plethora of local benefit shows and has been a strong supporter of local music. They have also played host to acts such as Vampire Weekend, Southern Culture on the Skids, The High Strung and a bevy of regional and local artists.

on the charts

top 10 songs played on wwmm 100.5 FM

1. “Why I Am” Dave Matthews Band 2. “1901” Phoenix 3. “The Great Defector”- Bell X1 4. “Maybe” Ingrid Michaelson 5. “Precious Love” James Morrison 6. “You Never Know” - Wilco 7. “Sex and Reruns” Matt Duke 8. “Pitter-Pat” Erin McCarley 9. “Never Say Never” The Fray 10. “Coming to terms” Carolina Liar

upcoming on the screen making sure it’s worth your $9.50

sorority row (September 11) (Stewert Hendler) They say: When a sorority girl’s boyfriend cheats on her, five of her sorority sisters set their sights on getting even - but their prank to do so goes terribly wrong and ends in an accidental murder. The five make a pact to never tell anyone about what happened and to move on with their lives. Unfortunately, someone doesn’t want to let them do that. A mysterious serial killer begins to stalk the five girls and anyone who knows about what they did.  

A&E MOVIE PREVIEWS

ARTS &ENTERTAINMENT

We say: Here we have «I Know What You Did Last Summer» gone greek. It doesn’t look like this has much of anything original to offer, but is sure to draw a small crowd who wouldn’t mind watching a few sorority girls get the slasher treatment.

Whiteout (September 11) (Dominic Sena) They say: A U.S. Marshal assigned to Antarctica must investigate the continent’s puzzling first murder, and the mystery grows deeper as the winter draws closer. Fighting more than the cold, she must figure it all out before the darkness of winter sets in and she is left all alone with the murderer. We say: When you combine deadly temperatures, darkness 24/7, total isolation and a crazed murderer, you’re bound to get a nail-biting, edge of your seat thriller. If you’re looking for a suspenseful ride, “Whiteout” looks to have all the makings of a great one.

cloudy with a chance of meatballs (September 18) (Phil Lord/Chris Miller) They say: An animated film inspired by the famous children’s book, “Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs” is about a scientist who has never had any success with his inventions. Just when the whole town is about to give up on him, he creates an invention that makes food rain from the sky. It’s a huge hit and the scientist is back in good graces - until the invention gets a mind of its own and starts wreaking havoc on the whole town in the form of overgrown food items. We say: Kids will love watching huge pizza slices and fortune cookies fall from the sky, and the film is full of humor that parents will be able to appreciate too. The combination of humorous animation with the plot from a beloved children’s book should make this movie a hit.

Love Happens

pandorum

(September 18) (Brandon Camp) They say: This romantic dramedy tells the story of a widowed self-help author (Aaron Eckhart) who comes to the realization that he’s more messed up than the people he is helping. After a chance encounter with a woman who attended his self-help seminar (Jennifer Anistion), he is finally able to cope with his past demons.   

(September 18) (Christian Alvart) They say: The producers of “Resident Evil” bring more horrors and bloodshed to the big screen with a film about two men (Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster) who wake up on a spaceship with no recollection of how they got there.  To make matters worse, murderous creatures have inhabited the ship and are leaving nothing alive in their wake.   

We say:  Jennifer Aniston alone has crowd-drawing abilities, and the sugary sweet plot-line will attract those looking for a good date movie.   

We say:  This sci/fi/horror flick will more than likely gain the top spot opening weekend as long as the masses infatuation with violence hasn’t subsided:  Spaceships, monsters and an R-rating? Cinematic gold.   

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A&E MOVIE PREVIEWS

fame (September 25) (Kevin Tancharoen) They Say: This remake of the 1980 film of the same name follows students attending the New York City High School of Performing Arts and the trials and tribulations they must go through to make it to the top.   We Say:  After the “High School Musical” craze, it was only a matter of time before this hit ‘80s film was remade.  With the help of some seasoned actors like Kelsey Grammar and Megan Mullally, Fame will be sure to attract thralls of tweens and teens hungering for a dancing, singing relapse.  

capitalism: A love story (October 2) (Michael Moore)  They Say: Moore creates a comical documentary about what he says is “the biggest robbery in the history of this country.”  He of course is referring to the massive transfer of U.S. taxpayer money to private financial institutions - what else?   We Say: Moore isn’t alone in thinking corporate dominance in America needs to be weakened.  Based on his past success with “Fahrenheit 9/11” and “Bowling for Columbine,” Moore’s documentary has the potential to shake up the political scene and bring this issue to the forefront. 

the invention of lying (September 25) (Ricky Gervais) They Say: In an alternate reality where everyone always tells the truth, one overweight loser (Ricky Gervais) figures out how to lie, and discovers that dishonesty can result in very positive outcomes.  (Think Liar, Liar reversed.)  We Say:  The cast alone is a knockout —Tina Fey, Jennifer Garner, Jonah Hill, Jason Bateman and Rob Lowe.  And with Ricky Gervais serving as director, writer and actor, fans of The Office and comedy in general should be in for a side-splitting treat. 

more than a game (October 2) (Kristopher Belman) They Say: This true-life story deals with the friendship of five young talented basketball players from Akron, Ohio and their athletic success, while also being faced with great adversity off the court.  As the players continue to improve their skills, one member’s new fame threatens to destroy everything the boys have worked to achieve.  We Say: The rare footage, home videos and personal family photographs included in this movie will make this a must-see for sports fans. 

shutter island (October 2) (Martin Scorsese):  They Say: A pair of U.S. Marshals, played by Mark Ruffalo and Leonardo Dicaprio, travel to a far-away island off the coast of Massachusetts in search of an escaped mental patient.  Along the way the two encounter forces of nature and a prison riot.  We Say:  This film has success written all over it because of the movie’s mysterious plot along with Dicaprio’s name on the cast list.   

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HOT...

When You’re

Bradley Cooper tries to explain his sizzling ride through Hollywood  by DeMarco Williams Everybody has a good day. Some people have a great week. There’s an especially blessed bunch that even has a perfect month. But there are very few people who can honestly say their year has been one for the record books. Bradley Cooper is one of those select few. At the top of the year, the 34-year-old’s name started making the rumor rounds as a candidate for the sought-after role of comic book hero Green Lantern on the silver screen. Then, in late spring, Cooper was a part of The Hangover, one of the biggest adult comedies of the year so far. Less than two months after that box-office coup, Cooper’s name was officially attached to the long-discussed A-Team movie, which will be coming out next June. Though Ryan Reynolds ultimately beat Cooper out for Green Lantern, it’s safe to still consider the Philly native’s year golden. “If you would have told me when I was sitting at a bar in Georgetown,” Cooper says of his recent good fortune, “that I’d be doing [The Hangover] with Mike Tyson, doing a play with Julia Roberts and hosting Saturday Night Live, I would be like, ‘Get outta here!’ This is great, man. I certainly have a lot more I wanna do. I feel like I haven’t even started doing what I wanna do. But, at the same time, I’m very grateful. But, yeah, of course I have a lot of dreams and I wanna work with certain people.” Cooper’s next part will be as the title character in September’s All About Steve. In the quirky comedy, Bradley plays a news cameraman who becomes the apple of Sandra Bullock’s character’s eye. “He learns really quickly, in the back of his Bronco, that she’s a little crazy,” Cooper says. “He pretends that he’s gotta go to Boston to capture this storm that’s happening. He goes, ‘It would be really great if you could go with me.’ She takes that literally. She quits her job and proceeds to stalk him around the country the rest of the movie. So, it’s this weird, rogue, stalking Sandra Bullock movie.” Sounds like fun … and yet another possible hit for Cooper this year. If you still think that Bradley Cooper’s

2009 successes have come overnight, you clearly have forgotten about the New York drama school, roles on Nip/Tuck and Alias and the supporting stints in movies like Yes Man and The Comebacks. “I remember renting a U-Haul and moving to New York,” Cooper recalls. “It was the best thing I ever did, going to that school because it was in New York. I’d never been around guys that wanted to act and felt anything

in common with them. It was guys like me in the school. I just fell in love with it. We were in a little bubble in New York for those three years. If I had any idea how brutal the business was, I probably would have quit the school.” Looking back over this year, and considering how 2010 is already shaping up, Bradley Cooper has got to count his lucky stars he didn’t.

ATHENS BLUR MAGAZINE

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Crank: High Voltage Dance Flick Local Color Sleep Dealer The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Valentino: The Last Empire Friday Menace II The Office (Season 5) Criminal Minds

sept

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Next Day Air Nightwatching Treeless Mountain X-Men Origins It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (Season 4) Grey’s Anatomy (Season 5) Easy Virtue CSI Miami (Season 7) Fame Four Dragons Grace Camilie Nerdcore Rising

sept

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Adam Resurrected Battle For Terra Book of Blood Ghosts of Girlfriends Past Lymelife O’Horten Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf or Death Ugly Betty (Season 3)

Rivermill Apartments rivermillathens.com 706.548.1188 newly renovated close to campus & downtown come in today and we’ll waive your deposit fee!

Release dates are subject to change. Check artists or store websites as these dates approach.

sept

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Filth And Wisdom Management Monsters Vs. Aliens The Girlfriend Experience Away We Go The Brothers Bloom How I Met Your Mother (Season 4)

oct

06

Anvil Nip/Tuck (Season 5) Bones (Season 4) Year One It’s Alive Chops Number 23 Bigfoot

oct

13

American Violet Craft Elephants Least of These Monsoon Wedding

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The Orkids @ Caledonia Lounge (Sandra Gallardo) Learn Nothing @ The PS Warehouse (Alex Gibbs) Todd McBride @ Flicker (Daniel Peiken) The Arcs @ Caledonia Lounge (Daniel Peiken) Roam Alone @ The PS Warehouse (Alex Gibbs) The Tom Collins @ Caledonia Lounge (Ed Morales) Winston Audio @ Caledonia Lounge (Alex Gibbs) Bill Mallonee @ Ok Coffee (Daniel Peiken) Five Eight @ WUGA (Daniel Peiken) Roam Alone @ The PS Warehouse (Alex Gibbs) Elliot Lipp @ Tasty World (Wes Elkin) Cinemechanica (Will Gravlee) Megafaun @ The Earl (Alyssa De Hayes) Elliot Lipp @ Tasty World (Wes Elkin) ATHENS BLUR MAGAZINE 76

submit to editorial@ athensblur.com or let us know when you’re playing! you never know when we’ll show up...

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O Brother @ Caledonia Lounge (Alex Gibbs) O Brother @ Caledonia Lounge (Alex Gibbs) John Bell @ UGA Chapel for UGA Music Biz Class (Daniel Peiken) The Interns @ Pianos in NYC (Alyssa De Hayes) Conor Oberst @ 40 Watt (Daniel Peiken) Akron/Family @ The Earl (Alyssa De Hayes) Jared Swilley of Black Lips @ AthFest (Stefan Eberhard) Chris Ezelle of We Are The Gold Machine @ Flicker (Daniel Peiken) Boo Ray @ Tasty World Uptown (Daniel Peiken) Davis Causey of Randall Bramblett Band @ AthFest (Stefan Eberhard) Simple Teek @ Stan Mullins Art Compound (Daniel Peiken) ATHENS BLUR MAGAZINE 77

BLUR PARTING THOUGHTS

the ten people you meet right here in the classic city

1. A homeless person whose name is known by almost everyone. Only in Athens could someone with hardly a dime to their name be considered a semi-celebrity. Surviving on the shoestring welfare provided by strangers gullible and good-hearted alike, Athens’ beggars have managed to transcend the common perception of being a nuisance. Now they’re an almost staple aspect of the scenery. And so long as they’re not going anywhere, you might as well operate on a first name basis. 2. Someone in a band you’ll probably never see. Our sweet little indie haven is indeed the land of 1,000 bands. Throw a rock down Washington Street and it’s sure to knick a guitarist. And that guitarist will surely have a flier. And the flier will surely be for an opening slot at a show on a Tuesday, at 8 p.m. And the venue will surely only hold 20 people and have a semi-functional toilet that looks like a CDC inspector’s wet dream. And you will surely not be in attendance. But hey — when they blow up, you can say you met the guitarist back before they became sell outs. 3. Someone with a wild agenda. Between Christian fanatics in Tate Plaza spitting fiery damnation on all God’s creations — crazy preachers excluded, of course — and crunchy hippies snagging 1,000 signatures from confused freshmen to save the endangered South American albino lesbian panda, Athens can sure as hell come across as quite the bizarre political hotbed. With self-righteous nut jobs skewing the bell curve so far in both directions, most of us — on both sides of the aisle — can safely count ourselves as “moderates.”

ten bartenders on staff. Add some bar back and door guys in for good measure and it’s clear to see how it’s pretty hard to not know someone — or at least someone who knows someone — who works at a bar. In fact, how many bartenders an Athenian knows is a pretty fair measure of their extraversion. And no, your roommate mixing up shitty cocktails with bottom shelf in the kitchen does not count.

PT Umphress “Would you be interested in a handmade wicker shower basket? Maybe you’d like some wacky folk art made out of rusty coke cans and used shotgun shells! Or how about a mud painting of Jesus? No? Well, then this poor artistic sap is going to starve.”

4. Someone in a costume. Any day in Athens can be Halloween when you get enough affiliated young people together under the same roof — especially if that day is Tuesday or Wednesday and the bar is hurting for business. Both an opportunity for folks to express their creativity or lack thereof, themed parties and socials provide that rare opportunity to watch a sleazy Little Bo Peep skipping drunk down Broad with Superman, a commando, and a pirate chasing after her. It’s like a scene from a little boy’s imagination — except all liquored up and horny. 5. The police. This funhouse has rules, and those rules are enforced by 58,000,000 (or more) of Athens’ finest. The boys in blue are ubiquitous yet sneaky. Just when you think you’ve found a small corner of privacy and the coast is clear to take a quick piss in the parking deck, the sudden squeal of a Schwinn’s handbrakes tells you otherwise. You just got bike-copped, sucker! Enjoy the paddy wagon ride to jail with Superman, a commando, and a pirate. 6. A bartender. Do the math. 60 something bars. Each bar has anywhere from two to

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7. A walking billboard for UGA. We get it. This is a college town. You’re proud to go here. Now for the love of all things holy, ditch the Georgia branded hoodie, hat, belt, tie, pants, and wallet ensemble. Much like when someone goes to a concert wearing a shirt emblazoned with the name of the band playing, it’s just not cool. Either you’re trying too hard to prove you belong or you’re just that damn unoriginal. Unless it’s a game day — in which case, go crazy — keep that shit in the closet or at least to a subtle minimum. Maybe a hat. Just a hat. 8. An uber-hipster. This tragic individual, who is likely friends with that guitarist you threw a rock at, has mastered the fine art of looking unique — exactly the same flavor of unique as all his friends — by walking that fine line between dressing like he only buys clothes from Soviet thrift stores and looking totally homeless. What’s completely ridiculous about this guy is that he most likely bought his ironically retro garb at premium price from a company that merely went down to the local Goodwill and snagged up anything that looked like it came from a Soviet bargain bin — or a homeless person.

9. A drunk person, at 2 p.m. While seeing a person drunk at 2 a.m.. in Athens is as common and inevitable as death and taxes, witnessing a person completely tanked at 2 p.m. is an occurrence quite unique to this town. A few Saturdays a year, we have game days to thank for this. Game day drinking commences as soon as people wake up, and by kickoff you’re lucky to see people still capable of walking, much less producing recognizable syllables. Outside of game days, you still have the loveable bar regular who likes to head out of work early on Friday. You really have to give it to this guy, because not only does he play by his own rules, but he also doesn’t seem to give a good god damn if you come in at 9 p.m. to see him drooling on the bar with a piss stain in his lap. 10. A starving artist. Would you be interested in a handmade wicker shower basket? Maybe you’d like some wacky folk art made out of rusty coke cans and used shotgun shells! Or how about a mud painting of Jesus? No? Well, then this poor artistic sap is going to starve. He’s a part of what gives Athens its eclectic character, and damnit, he’s banking on your tourist ass wanting to buy some creative, nifty shit he made with his hands — or maybe he’s just another guitarist hoping you’ll come see his band on Tuesday.

The 8th Annual

ch Bruce Burnds & Frie

Honor

d r a r r a J n h Jo Concert 2009 Thursday, September 24 6:00PM - 10:00PM (Gates open at 5:30pm)

The Lawn at Brenau John was born and reared in Gainesville, Georgia, and moved to Nashville in 1977 to pursue a career as a country music songwriter. Within one year, he began to experience sight failure resulting from diabetes, and by 1979, was totally blind. When country music superstar Don Williams recorded John's song, "Nobody But You," taking it to the top of the charts, doors began to open. Over the ensuing years, John's songs were recorded by the group Alabama, George Strait, Diamond Rio, Tracy Lawrence, and others, until he had scored eleven number one hits.

For Tickets and Further Information:

http://www.johnjarrardconcert.com/ The John Jarrard Foundation is a non-profit organization with proceeds going to a permanent endowment fund in John’s name established at the North Georgia Community Foundation. Proceeds benefit local charities, including the Good News Clinics, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Hall County, Georgia Mountain Food Bank Fund, and one of John’s favorite causes, Good News at Noon.

worth a thousand... A look inside the Georgia Theatre in late August. Photo: Justin Evans